Coop Check?

[21hens-incharge]

Thanks for this, 21hens, very clear-cut!
Follow-up question, now that our chicks are 4 weeks old and we're starting to prepare for their transition...

A dozen hens is what we're aiming for, and it will be easy to expand their pen to make that work, and more (we will likely double the pen size). But at the moment we have 24 6-week olds, and hope to keep them until they are ~12 weeks old before harvesting roos (or having a second coop built). We also don't yet know their genders.

Do they need the same size coop and run as adults when they are 6-12 weeks old?

Right now they are in a 4'x12' run in our greenhouse, with a brooder plate and hiding box and roosting branch. I guess we could keep 3-4 roos in there beyond six weeks if we add a roost box to their area? Then we'd have 20-21 teenagers in the big girl coop from the ages of 6-12 weeks.

Will this work, or do we really need to build/improvise another coop solution in the next 2 weeks? We want another coop eventually, so it wouldn't be a waste, but we're in the middle of house build and would rather put that work off until spring...

I know, I know, we made an impulsive purchase when we weren't really ready for it, after having this great coop fall into our lap! We went a little nuts. And the kiddos are so great, of course. When we had backyard chickens we raised 25 from chick and shared them with other backyard chicken enthusiasts by the time they were big enough to move out.

Actually, that might be the best option -- to re-home chickens that won't fit in our coop. We are in a rural area and lots of folks have small family farms nearby.

Anyway, the main question is... is a 12-adult coop & run big enough for 20-24 12-week-olds?

Short answer is maybe.

Luckily the young get along better than those of breeding age (20 weeks or so depending on breeds).

Long answer is it all depends on how many males you ended up with and their individual temperaments. It can get really complicated really quickly.

Being in New Mexico you might be able to make a hoop run to house some if needed.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threadloom/search?query=Hoop coop&tab=620

 

[Kimi BK]

6 weeks is prime time to gender check for most breeds.
Combs/wattles will be larger and redder.
Post pics here if you want help figuring it out.

Wellies you can tell at hatch and for sure by now by breast feather color.
Aussies should be obvious at 6wks.
EE's and Wy's might be harder.
Did you get them all straight run?

Oops, I misspoke. We are moving them out at 6 weeks; right now they are 4 weeks. I think 3 of the Welsummers are clearly male, and 3 are clearly female (first timer with Welsummers and first time with male chickens of any breed, so take that with a grain of salt). The 7th is sort of on the fence. The 3 easter eggers should be all female, we ordered pullets. The Australorps and Wyandottes could be anything. But we haven't really tried to sex any of them yet...

Thanks for that link! It looks like a fun exploration!

 

[aart]

right now they are 4 weeks.

Comb/wattle color can show up soon....even at 4 weeks.

 

[Kimi BK]

Short answer is maybe.

Luckily the young get along better than those of breeding age (20 weeks or so depending on breeds).

Long answer is it all depends on how many males you ended up with and their individual temperaments. It can get really complicated really quickly.

Being in New Mexico you might be able to make a hoop run to house some if needed.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threadloom/search?query=Hoop coop&tab=620

Thanks for this! You reminded me we have a hoop house frame stashed under a tree... that will be a great backup plan if the kids don't play nice!

Another question -- if I separate the roos, do they have to be out of site and out of hearing range of the hens? Or just physically separated?

Thanks again!

 

[Kimi BK]

Comb/wattle color can show up soon....even at 4 weeks.

OK, we'll start looking more closely!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Thanks for this! You reminded me we have a hoop house frame stashed under a tree... that will be a great backup plan if the kids don't play nice!

Another question -- if I separate the roos, do they have to be out of site and out of hearing range of the hens? Or just physically separated?

Thanks again!

I would think just separated should work up to a certain point. You plan to process while they are still young right?

If they hit breeding age I would expect things to go south quickly. It only takes one to start a major fight.

 

[Kimi BK]

...so if some of our chicks are chest-bumping at 4-5 weeks, is that just normal pecking order behavior, or just normal young cockerel behavior, or an early warning side that the chest-bumpers will need separating soon...?

 

[springvalley123]

Hi!
I'm close to you in terms of high desert, I'm at 4000 ft, zone 7, in Arizona. At my old place I had a 7.5 x 7.5 shed that I converted by ventilating as you describe, only I had one gable and the other gable, just had vents. I had 9 amberlinks and sapphire gems total as adults. But I grew all 27 in there in the dead of winter and did fine.
I've had silver lace wyandottes and black australorps before. The wyandotes matured (crowed) at about 8 -9 weeks so I butchered them then, they were about 4 lbs if I recall. The australorps took a couple weeks longer, and were as small as 2 lbs. But I second the idea, that once they start to mature, things go south quickly. I didn't quite get that far, I had two as old as 12 weeks before butchering. Later I had a 500 sq ft secure run with roosts in it, and that was enough for 10 turkens to mature safely, as much as 4 weeks after multiples started crowing. So, in my limited experience it varies, and having that reserve space as a backup plan can buy you a lot of time.
Best of luck in your project, I'm excited for you!

 

[aart]

...so if some of our chicks are chest-bumping at 4-5 weeks, is that just normal pecking order behavior, or just normal young cockerel behavior, or an early warning side that the chest-bumpers will need separating soon...?

Normal for both genders.
If it's get too rowdy they might need more space.
Tho by 5 weeks you should be able to tell cockerels from pullets on most breeds by comb/wattle color.

 

[Kimi BK]

Hi!
I'm close to you in terms of high desert, I'm at 4000 ft, zone 7, in Arizona. At my old place I had a 7.5 x 7.5 shed that I converted by ventilating as you describe, only I had one gable and the other gable, just had vents. I had 9 amberlinks and sapphire gems total as adults. But I grew all 27 in there in the dead of winter and did fine.
I've had silver lace wyandottes and black australorps before. The wyandotes matured (crowed) at about 8 -9 weeks so I butchered them then, they were about 4 lbs if I recall. The australorps took a couple weeks longer, and were as small as 2 lbs. But I second the idea, that once they start to mature, things go south quickly. I didn't quite get that far, I had two as old as 12 weeks before butchering. Later I had a 500 sq ft secure run with roosts in it, and that was enough for 10 turkens to mature safely, as much as 4 weeks after multiples started crowing. So, in my limited experience it varies, and having that reserve space as a backup plan can buy you a lot of time.
Best of luck in your project, I'm excited for you!

Thanks for this, neighbor!

I know it's a little hard to tell "who started it" because I haven't noticed until after I hear the noise, but I *think* that 1 or 2 of the Wyandottes are the chest-bumping aggressors (they also have more white on the wings and a little redder comb, so I also suspect that they are male). So it seems to fit with your note that they matured earlier...?

I speak glibly about "harvesting our roos" but having only been a backyard chicken / "beloved pet" owner before, I know it will not be easy for us! We did go help harvest 8 roos at a nearby farm just to see if we could do it... still, it will be harder when they are ours, and when we've raised them from puffballs... it sounds like we might already be half way to harvest time for some of them! Aargh! At least we haven't named them, and remind ourselves daily that some of them will be showing up on our dinner plates. But we are eyeing some of our favorites, hoping they will be girls! If we can manage the space/housing, we might keep a couple of these roos for possible future breeding.