My family has just picked up 7 red chicks to start supplementing our eggs. We are looking at how to do a coop. I can easily convert 1 section of an existing shed into a great coop with plenty of room if I can do a multi-level coop. How tall should each section be? How wide does the plank they will walk up and down need to be? We are new to this, so any help would be great! Thanks!
Multi-level with ramps doesn't really give you as much 'effective' square footage (from chicken use perspective) as you might think. For instance, a 4x4 coop with a ramp leading up to an upper 4x4-minus-ramp-hole-in-floor upper level is not going to work like an 8x4 coop. From the standpoint of how crowded the chickens feel/act. Although it will be a bit better than just strictly a one-level 4x4. So if you are going to have 7 chickens, I would suggest you have at least something like 4x7 (may almost as well make it 4x8) indoor space, plus 6x10 or greater size of outdoor run. You *can* try keeping them in less space than this, but it's not ideal for their happiness and the less space they have the greater your chances of running into problems with them starting to gruesomely disassemble each other (which can be hard or impossible to stop once started). In a shed conversion, make sure to add plenty of extra ventilation. Good luck, have fun, Pat
I'd give the chickens 24 inches of height per floor. The ramp I'd suggest 12 inches with with plenty of slats to keep the chickens from slipping. I disagree about the 2-story coop not working well for chickens. Yes 4x8 is a little better then a coop 4x4 and 2 stories. You do loose your ramp space and the opening to the 2nd story for square footage. On the other hand the design is more compact for a cold winter coop. IF you have proper vents. You also can have your roosts and nest boxes/food/water on separate floors. The 2nd story also could act as a droppings board, so you wouldn't have to clean out the entire coop as often.
