I'd like to start breeding purebred chickens. I mentioned somewhere on here that right now I just let all m ychickens run together so they are all mixed but I have some new black copper maran chicks that I'd like to breed eventually. I would want to breed more than one breed though. What are the minimum in pens i can have. I was thinking I could let them all run free and then pen whoever I'd like purebreds of certain crosses out of. But I don't chickens stay fertile forr quite a while, so I guess they would have to be "fasted", or maybe abstinent would be a better word, so that I might breed for purebreds? Any ideas?