I have gotten myself into a situation. I have one 1-year old hen, two 5-month olds - 1 pullet, 1 rooster, and a flock of 3-week old chicks. Chicken math got me. So my chicks are quickly outgrowing their space in the coop. At what age would you consider merging everyone? The older 3 chickens are together (kind of) so it would be a matter of introducing the new babies. They are in a cage I had designed into my coop so they can all see each other. I didn't have 19 chicks in mind when I designed it though!
Chicken math - I wanted 8 buff Orpington females and one bo male. But then the black copper Marans were very pretty and reminded me of my beautiful deceased rooster. Ok, get a couple of those, except there's a minimum of 4 female Marans so add 5 chicks more. Ooh, Easter eggers! Add 4 of those. Then they sent me 2 extra chicks. My 8 BOs turned into 19 chicks! I do have a large enough coop and run for 20 so I'm a few over but expecting some loss. We have Marek's, chicks are vaccinated so we'll see!
Chicken math - I wanted 8 buff Orpington females and one bo male. But then the black copper Marans were very pretty and reminded me of my beautiful deceased rooster. Ok, get a couple of those, except there's a minimum of 4 female Marans so add 5 chicks more. Ooh, Easter eggers! Add 4 of those. Then they sent me 2 extra chicks. My 8 BOs turned into 19 chicks! I do have a large enough coop and run for 20 so I'm a few over but expecting some loss. We have Marek's, chicks are vaccinated so we'll see!