Need help in building a coop?

[Sami's Mommy]

Okay so I'm a total noob here sorry. I joined last year when i took 5 chickens off some peoples hands after a scramble at the fair, but they were huge, and evil, so we found them a nice hobby farmer. Now this spring I decided to try again. I bought 5 "gold stars" at the farm store. they are now about 3 months. They come in on the porch at night in a rabbit cage and go out into a rabbit run during the day. They are already big girls. Today we also went to a farmers house and bought 5 bantam girls of various ages. So i have 10 chickens, 5 bantys and 5 standards. We have their run nearly finished, just need to staple the rest of the wire on in the morning and its done. The run is 10'L 9'W and 6'T so it should be more then plenty. They will have a dog house for now until we get the coop done.

~This is where i need help.~

Before we were going to build it to be 4.5 feet long and 2.5 feet wide and 3 feet tall. Now we are considering 4.5 feet long, 2.5 feet wide, and 4.5 feet tall with a second floor in there. Does that sound adequate? We would put 3 nests up in the upper level and the food and water down stairs. there would be a ladder going up to the top. My concern is will that be enough room? And the gold stars wont be cramped for height will they?

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[Judy]

Post #8 in this thread is a great writeup on space: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/533672/will-my-run-be-large-enough#post_6815985

 

[Sami's Mommy]

now im even more confused! Will my coop be okay?!

 

[BigECarter]

Will the dividing floor be pretty much continuous? Where will the roost be? Headroom sounds tight to me. What state are you in? I'm personally thinking about going somewhat coopless (at most a 3-sided open coop) due to our mild winters.

 

[Sami's Mommy]

im in iowa so going coopless wouldnt work. roosts would be in the lower level, and theres a bunch in the run too

 

[Sami's Mommy]

Run is finished!! all 10 girls met today. It seems to be a general concensus to peck at the little blue frizzle poor thing lol, but they got over that pretty quick. The GS sat in the ash pile all day and rooled in the ashes lol. They sit in us vs. them groups too so its little chickens over here big ones over there lol, but the roosts still need to be added. So if i made it 5 ft tall with the lower level being 3ft and the upper 2 ft with just the nests would it be alright?

 

[thecoopbuilder]

I would have to say that everything looks good accept a place to roost for that many chickens. I say you need more had room or extend the structure out about 2 more feet at least.
Here is a 4x8 coop I built that fit 10-12 chickens comfortably. Hope this helps.

 

[Sami's Mommy]

its been changed again, but we finalized the plans now. its 6 feet long 2 feet 10 inches wide, and the bottom is 3 ffet high. the upper level is 2.5 feet high with 3 nest boxes. its slanted to at the back its only 1.5 feet high. Is that good?

 

[JDMcK03]

I am still a noobie myself, but I see people use 3- 4sq feet per bird. So with that math, u need around 40 square feet of living area. I think some have gone less, but I wanted to give my girls lots of room.

We have:

9 Chickens, full size girls
8x8 shed style coop.
8 foot tall walls
= 64 square feet total.
or 7.1 sq feet per bird.

With 40 square feet, you would need like 6x4 top and bottom levels. I am not sure how high your ceilings would need to be though. When you get going on it, post some pics, would love to see the 2 levels Goodluck!