From 25 to 9

[MarkJr]

I’ve been experiencing chicken math. My flock grew to 13 and the wife’s uncle wanted 12 broody raised chicks for himself.

I wound up with 8 bar rocks and 4 Australorps under my broody.
6 dominant coppers
4 sapphire gems
2 silver laced Wyandotte’s

The chicks are 7.5 weeks old and are right at weaning stage. So I decided to give everyone except the bar rocks and my broody to the uncle.

Happy to say, they have settled into their new home. His other 16 chickens had about an hour of figuring each other out, and everyone roosted peacefully.

I am now amazed how peaceful a 7x7 coop can be.

 

[HappyDuckie]

I remember the days when I had not so many chickens... it fuels my nightmares

 

[aart]

His other 16 chickens had about an hour of figuring each other out, and everyone roosted peacefully.

Really?!?!?!

 

[MarkJr]

Really?!?!?!

Yep. His coop is huge (12x24) and fenced run is about 1/4 acre of 8’ chain link fence with buried apron for diggers. He is most worried about deer and elk tearing up his fruit trees as well as coyote and fox. My 6-7 lb girls have a distinct size weight advantage..... and evidently they were trained well in organized engagement. They addressed any and all takers as a group, and once there weren’t any challengers moved in to finding food and water stations. They literally took the area, and allowed them to stay. It went very easy. He is going to keep an eye on things but swears if you add an equal large size group to another it always works out like this. He’s done it for years and never had issue.

The 4 seven week old chicks and three 19 week old pullets slept in a separate room of his coop from main flock.

 

[aart]

Yep. His coop is huge (12x24) and fenced run is about 1/4 acre of 8’ chain link fence with buried apron for diggers. He is most worried about deer and elk tearing up his fruit trees as well as coyote and fox. My 6-7 lb girls have a distinct size weight advantage..... and evidently they were trained well in organized engagement. They addressed any and all takers as a group, and once there weren’t any challengers moved in to finding food and water stations. They literally took the area, and allowed them to stay. It went very easy. He is going to keep an eye on things but swears if you add an equal large size group to another it always works out like this. He’s done it for years and never had issue.

The 4 seven week old chicks and three 19 week old pullets slept in a separate room of his coop from main flock.

Yep, lots of space and birds is easier than less and fewer.

 

[MarkJr]

Yep, lots of space and birds is easier than less and fewer.

To be fair, he had half the coop blocked off and a smaller fenced spot inside large run to facilitate separating them if needed. They were in there from just before daylight until about noon when he popped the gate open for them. I snagged them off their roost for transport an hour before daylight.

He did chuckle and say he won’t be getting eggs for about a week.