One Level or Two Level Coop?

[discoveregg]

My DH has been building our first coop. The dimensions are 8X8X4. On the narrow wall, opposite of the door which is open in the pic, the coop has a double paned sliding bathroom window installed vertically, above it is installed a vent and on the long wall we have hardware cloth screened plexiglass windows which can open and close from the outside. The nest boxes haven't been installed yet but will be accessable from the outside left wall.
I have 10 LF chickens at the moment and will be adding more as we go along. Because this coop is SO tall, we're wondering if we could make it a two story coop? Not sure where the ladders would go or how this would affect the temperature of the coop with the chickens in a 4 ft tall area instead of an 8 ft tall area. We live in Idaho. The coop is raised off the ground on skids, with hardware cloth underneath a plywood floor which can be removed.

Any ideas out there for increasing the number of chickens this coop can hold? Do any of you have two story coop?

 

[mystang89]

From what I've read having a second story doesn't really increase the sq footage because the chickens mainly stay on the bottom anyway.

 

[hcppam]

Doing the same with mine, yes most might stay on the bottom floor, but the ones that might be candidates for hen picking will use the second floor. if you keep water on one floor and food on the other, they'll spread out...I hope.

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
it would be so hard to clean too-just add more roosts 8 x 4=32 divided by 4sq ft per bird=8 LF birds comfortably. If you have 10-and are looking to add more it will be awfully squishy in there. adding more roosting bars gives you more space for them off of the floor...

 

[Mark & Nique]

We have a tractor, and the hens love the second floor, which is where the nesting boxes and poop board are.

 

[Imp]

I have a two story coop. See my BYC page. The chickens use both floors.

1st floor- Kitchen, Dining room, Foyer

2nd floor- Bedroom, Bathroom, and Sitting room

There is also attic storage.

Imp

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
haha made me look! That is cool how you set it up. I can totally see how a 2nd floor coop works now! I was thinking of something like a whole flooring for a second story with a small pop hole to jump in to- that would be tough to get into and clean

 

[discoveregg]

Thanks for your input!!! Please continue....

I think I should have explained my idea a little better. Looking directly at the pic I posted, I am already a couple of feet inside the coop. I would put a piece of painted plywood horizontally thru the coop. The roosts would be about 12" off the ground, with plenty of space around them. Compllete living space, roosts, food and water on each floor. There would be two seperate entrances from the outside of the coop. The entrance would be a long ladder which would enter the second storry coop at about 4 ft. Is that too high? The lower coop would have it's own entrance.
Re: Cleaning. Simply slide out the solid floor of the second story and spray the entire coop out with a pressure washer.
Am I making this more complicated than it needs to be

? sonew123 maybe you're right, just add more roosts? I like that idea, I just want to make sure all my chiokens fit