Moving to new coop

[2wheelnurse]

It's getting cold in Iowa and I'm about to move my chickens to a bigger coop. They are used to free ranging during the day. Will I have to keep them confined to the new coop for a while so they get used to it, and if so, how long? I also recently learned by reading posts that I need more hens for my 1 roo, but that's a problem for a different day. They all seem to be doing fine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’d leave them locked in the new coop for about a week. That should be long enough for them to consider it home and lay eggs in those nests and hopefully go in there at night on their own.

Trust yourself and what you see and don’t quite believe everything you read on the internet, even if it is from me. That 10 to 1 ratio you have probably read is the ratio the hatcheries use with their pen breeding method to ensure fertility of the eggs. Pen breeding is where you put maybe 20 roosters and 200 hens in one pen and your goal is fertile eggs to hatch. In that specific method the 10 to 1 is what it takes to keep all hens fertile due to the randomness of breeding. If you have a free ranging flock with one rooster, he can normally keep 20 or more hens fertile as long as he is reasonably young and energetic. Many breeders keep one rooster with one or two hens during breeding season without issues.

The 10 to 1 ratio has nothing to do with hens being overbred or roughly used. The 10 to 1 has nothing to do with roosters fighting. It is used for fertility in a pen breeding situation. If you need an excuse to justify getting more hens go for it. But it is an excuse, not a reason, as long as things are going well for you now.

Regardless of the situation I always recommend you keep as few roosters as you can and still meet your goals. That’s not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters, just that problems are more likely.

 

[2wheelnurse]

Thank you for the reply! I was worried about my hens, but my rooster seems to be fairly well behaved, and he's a lot of fun to watch as he herds the hens around and guards them. They are bantams and pets--so no goals other than keeping them healthy and alive