5 month old and 6 week old introductions?

[aart]

Currently our coop is 6x5

I am almost positive that 3 of the babies are cockerels (there are 8 total) - I am working on finding homes for them maybe with the exception of the blue buff orpington. We already have 1 rooster who is 5 months (cuckoo marans) and is super sweet, also we have 7 hens who are 5 months.

Tight quarters for 16 birds.....even 13 is tight.

As far as integration, might just let them all range and see what happens.
Maybe let the olders and younger range on alternate days,
so the youngers can get the lay of the land without being harassed bu the olders.
Tho 6 weeks is kind of young to range.
They'll sleep in separate coops for now.

 

[Seed223]

Tight quarters for 16 birds.....even 13 is tight.

As far as integration, might just let them all range and see what happens.
Maybe let the olders and younger range on alternate days,
so the youngers can get the lay of the land without being harassed bu the olders.
Tho 6 weeks is kind of young to range.
They'll sleep in separate coops for now.

We are planning on adding another coop on the opposite end of the run when we expand.... we built that for 8 chickens and then somehow ended up with way more!! We let them all out together last night and they did ok but we were with them the whole time. And yes, we will stay outside with them if the younger ones are out of the coop since we do have hawks around. I found a home for our Marans cockerel last night and the lady asked if I wanted to do a trade for a black cooper Marans pullet. Do you think that would be a bad idea? She is 3 months old and hasn’t been handled a lot... we have handled ours daily from the day they hatched. Also I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to introduce just one bird? Would love to hear your thoughts if you have some time!

 

[aart]

We are planning on adding another coop on the opposite end of the run when we expand

So you will keep 2 separate flocks?
They'll want to sleep in the same coop eventually.

I found a home for our Marans cockerel last night and the lady asked if I wanted to do a trade for a black cooper Marans pullet. Do you think that would be a bad idea? She is 3 months old and hasn’t been handled a lot... we have handled ours daily from the day they hatched. Also I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to introduce just one bird?

Why anyone would trade a male for female is beyond me.
Adding a single bird is tricky, and it's good to think about bio-security, and you're already over-crowded...so not really a good idea, IMO.

 

[Seed223]

So you will keep 2 separate flocks?
They'll want to sleep in the same coop eventually.

Why anyone would trade a male for female is beyond me.
Adding a single bird is tricky, and it's good to think about bio-security, and you're already over-crowded...so not really a good idea, IMO.

Ok thank you! I’m still very new to chickens and am still learning so this is all great info. I really appreciate it!