Building a new chicken coop

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scott37

scott37

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cherry valley California
Hi I am building a new chicken coop that will fit 8 chickens. All will be girls but I don't want all layers. I was thinking of having 4 layers and 4 meat chickens. Do I have to keep them separate or can they mingle together?
 
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You would have to keep them separate - meat chickens eat everything in site because they have explosive growth, your other birds would get pushed away.
 
I agree with the above. Get some good dual purpose birds. I like the Light Sussex for this. Best of both worlds!
 
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan
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Meat birds are intended for short-term keeping - usually they are ready for processing around 8 weeks of age. They grow huge very quickly, and don't always mix well with same-age layer breeds. Are you thinking maybe of dual-purpose breeds that lay eggs but grow to a decent eating size? They will be fine in a mixed coop. Another possibility is to get some eye-candy birds such as silkies, polish or cochins, they do lay (not a huge amount) but are pretty and fun to keep.
 

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