Newbie has coop questions--need advice

[colleentara]

Hi there-- My high school students built a chicken coop at school and I have some questions about it. We have 2 RIRs.
The coop is 2-story--about 4 ' x 5' x (about 6.5 feet tall). The bottom floor is dirt and has the food/water. The walls of the bottom floor are chicken wire.
The upper floor is plywood, enclosed, and has the nesting box. I think that the upper floor is only about 2.5 feet tall. They didn't put in any roosts, so I need to do that asap!
My questions: from reading the forum, I see that I should put in vinyl or linoleum on the plywood and then cover that with pine shavings. Should I put pine shavings on the bottom dirt floor too?
The deep litter method seems to be something I would only do on the bottom floor because the upper floor isn't very tall. Right? (that is, if I even have to put shavings on the bottom floor)
Do they need a run in addition to the space that they have now? They have a lot of space on the bottom floor. I've been letting them out to run around outside occasionally.
I think that's all for now...although I know that I have more questions!
Thank you so much--

 

[PandoraTaylor]

I would not put anything on the dirt floor. It is designed to be a small run.
I would allow free range or a larger run if you can.

and

from Alaska

 

[colleentara]

Thanks! the coop is in a cement courtyard at school--we can't let them be completely free range b/c the students would probably leave the door open and let them out! There is a small garden area where we let them loose during the day while we're out there. I'd like to make it enclosed so that we could let them out longer.

 

[patandchickens]

If the coop/run sits on cement, indeed you will have to put something down. I would suggest straw or woodchips. Clean it out and replace it whenever it gets too nasty.

Be careful about summer heat, though. I don't know where you are located (climate, weather) but paved surfaces (even just concrete not asphalt can get pretty hot in the summer and chickens do NOT deal well with heat. Shadecloth may not be enough to keep them cool if the whole concrete area is radiating heat in the late afternoon... be careful of them in the hot time of the year and have a plan B if relocation should be necessary.

Also, will you have a way of anchoring the coop. 6.5' tall on a 4x5 footprint is going to be somewhat tippy, e.g. in storm gusts or if someone gets smartypants and *tries* to tip it over...

Good luck, have fun,

Pat