I've just started raising chickens in 2015 with 18 bantams rescued from dire conditions. By March 2017, I had lost 2/3 due to their prior history but was wanting to get standard chickens. My son bought me 16 chicks, 2 ended up being roosters that I initially raised in the house. I bought a coop just for them to keep them separated. Then a friend gave me 6 of hers that were same age as my 16, I added another coop, so now I had 3 pens. 2018, 23 more chicks but I decided to introduce them to the 6 in pen #3 adding a 4th coop. They had a few tiffs but after a week, they established pecking order and things were good. Oh by the way, I was given 6 ducks, 3 more bantams and rescued 6 adult hens in the meantime that were successfully added between pens #1 & #2. I also had divided my largest coop/pen so I could separate 5 of my now 11 roosters into a rooster pad. It took a week or two but eventually the new pecking order was established in both pens. We had a very rainy summer and my coops were constantly being flooded. I was down to using 2 pens but all had a common large fenced area where I was slowly introducing all together with very few problems. My boyfriend and one son decided I needed a new larger common coop and told me to design what I wanted. So in November 2018, they built a 12X10 coop with a 6X10 storage room. We moved all 56 hens, roosters and 3 ducks at 2am to their new home. I had sold 3 ducks and rehomed 3 roosters during the summer and lost a several from flooding. There was a usually dry creek bed about 20 feet away that had never rose that high as long as my boyfriend could remember his 30 years there but it did that summer. The new coop is 50 feet from the creek, has a 54x40 pen. I have now in 2020, 45 hens, 7 roosters and 5 ducks sharing 2 coops with 6 pullets to be introduced mid-March to main coop.
It can be slippery, especially with fresh shavings,
