Can I keep my meat roosters and hens together until processing time? Newbie Questions!

[Chicka T]

I'll be ordering 25 chicken from a hatchery soon. I want about 15-20 of those to be roosters to process. (Buckeyes, Welsummers, Black Australorps, and Dominiques, AND a couple of CCX's or Rangers for comparison). This is my first experience with chickens. I want to know if I can keep all the chickens together-- until butchering age around 4-5 months? I wanted to do a large chicken tractor so they could be grass fed., and back into the coop at night. Or do I need to separate them with separate tractors and (hopefully not) separate coops?

Also, for 25 chickens how big should the coop and tractor be? Any advise would be appreciated!

I also forgot to ask, when will the roosters start crowing? (I was hoping to process right before they do.)

 

[Folly's place]

Your Cornishx chicks will grow REALLY FAST, and need to go at 8 or nine weeks, before they start dying, also, no roosts is safer for them. The other chicks will grow slower, and will be crowing and starting to 'act out' before they are ready for freezer camp. Your pullets will grow slower than the cockrels, and appreciate having fewer randy cockrels around. I send the males away first, and grow the pullets longer. I use a cattle panel hoop coop, 8' by10', for 25 chicks, with free range time also. Mary

 

[Farmer Viola]

It's hard to say exactly when they will crow. my wyandottes crowed at 17 weeks so I'm going to process future wyandotte cockerels at 16 weeks. hope it helps!