My advice to you: Build your coop to house twice as many birds as you intend to have. More room is always good. If you end up with a broody, or get more chicks, you'll need to be able to house them. Unless you intend to have a nursing home for a non laying geriatric flock of birds, you'll have to come to terms with culling eventually. That could be doing the deed yourself, sending them off to someone else, realizing they'll end up being dinner, or selling/giving them away while they still have a bit of laying life left. Rooster: can help with flock dynamics, if you have a good rooster, and if you have plenty of space. (absolute minimum space is 4 s.f. in the coop, and 10 s.f. in the run/bird. I recommend that you have a run even if you intend to let them free range every day. There will be times when you MUST keep them penned up: predator casing your flock, predator losses, birds doing too much damage to your yard, escaping your yard, need to train birds to use nest boxes. Also, I strongly suggest that you consider the benefit of culling a sick bird rather than allowing it to suffer in silence (because that's what it'll do. Birds are remarkably good at hiding their illnesses) until it "dies a natural death". IMO, we owe our flocks an easy end, instead of one that comes with prolonged suffering. Favorite birds: Dominique for their friendly and inquisitive personality. EE for their colorful eggs. These 2 breeds seem to be well matched in temperament as well!
