I'm currently raising my first flock of layers (25 pullets) that are going on 11 weeks old in a few days. They live in a coop and run that I finished building when they were around 6 weeks old. I don't want them free-ranging in the backyard due to a lot of local predators. I did a lot of thinking and studying before selecting the breeds that would do well in my area and ended up getting 16 Barred Rocks and nine White Leghorns. I'm extremely happy with them so far and I've had more fun than should be legal raising them to this point. I've had so much fun in fact I'm toying with the idea of raising a second flock of a few different breeds so I can experiment and see how well they do. Does that seem like a dumb thing to do - raise two separate flocks instead of one large flock? The coop and run I have now is just about right size-wise for the birds I have now, so I wouldn't want to add any to it. Also I think it's preferable to try to raise a single flock together so you don't have the difficulties of introducing new birds and stressing everyone out, including me. I thought about possibly adding to/increasing the size of my current coop and run to accomodate more birds in the future but after sleeping on it I think there's more advantages to building a second set-up. By keeping two flocks that are physically separate you'd lessen the chances of spreading disease if one flock came down with something. You could also keep breeds that may not do as well if you kept them together, such as bantams and regular sized birds possibly. Also if you ever decided to get into breeding it would be nice so you could control which gals the rooster goes out on a date with. Anyway I was just wondering of any others have more than one flock and get others opinions. Thanks, Gene
I keep a large mostly large breed flock and across the yard I have my bantam flock. I like having two flocks.
I maintain 7 separate flocks. Mostly because I keep guinea fowl,ducks,geese,pheasants,and peas as well as chickens and a turkey. My birds are divided to get along rather than strict species lines. This allows me to house shy birds away from their aggressors.
I have 5 flocks now, but for many years just kept one. I'm planning to raise and breed different kinds so I don't want them to "intermarry", so to speak. It makes chore time longer and now I'm trying fermented feed which adds to that, but I love how the new food improves things so it seems worth it.
We keep a small flock of layers and a small flock of silkies. A friend keeps separate flocks of layers of different ages and culls the old birds when laying falls off. There are good reasons to keep separate flocks, and a lot of folks just let everyone run wild together, just do what works for you.
I have my main flock, then four breeding pens that double as grow out pens. I find caring for multiple flocks really doesn't take too much longer than one coop. On rainy days or otherwise foul weather, feeding all my pens and the horses took about 20 minutes, door out to door back in. Now, in better weather I take more time and do more chores, fluff or add to bedding, clean out waterers, etc. But this is my hobby and I find it relaxing. Unless you have lots of space between flocks and practice true quarantine, you're not going to stop a disease from going from one flock to the other. Myself, I like having my pens close so I have less walking to do when doing my chores. Plus, using the pens as grow-out areas, having adjoining pens helps birds get to know each other before they possibly live together. I realize that's probably not going to be an issue with your "fully separate" plans, just throwing it out there for anyone else reading.
Thanks much everyone for all the info! Sounds like it's not too uncommon to keep more than one which I'm glad to hear. The thought of adding another flock is really appealing and opens up a lot of possibilities. I guess chicken math is alive and well in my world. Thanks again for all the feedback.
We are setting up to have a mixed flock of layers. Currently we have 2 types in there but I am incubating Barred Rocks now. We aer adding two different breeding flocks for the birds we like. English Blues will be one and we haven't decided on the other yet.
You'll love the Barred Rocks, I know I do. They're very docile and get along well with my Leghorns. I'm really glad I went with them.
