Getting more chickens, should I mix my flock?

[RubelliteRose]

We started with a small coop and run, but chicken math hit. We moved a shed over to the chicken area and expanded the run so both coops attach to one large run. Our original intention was to have all the chickens sleep in the large coop and use the small coop for new chicks/isolation etc, but nope. While our original hens lay their eggs in the new coop, they refuse to sleep there. Everyone hangs out together during the day, but at night the oldest girls (except River) sleep in the old coop along with our youngest rooster and youngest hen. River started sleeping in the new coop with our older roosters when Ezra moved into the small coop.
For us, having 2 coops meant that everyone could choose who to roost with so there is less night time drama and we are able to have more than one rooster to watch over the girls while free ranging.

 

[BDutch]

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where the ladies try to sardine-can it and all fit into one coop?

A year and a half ago, I had a small mother hen and three growing chicks in the small prefab coop. When the chicks grew up, they barely fit in the small coop anymore, but the older hens wouldn't let them roost with them in the much more spacious extension.
The extension can hold 10 bantams.

Because I'd had this problem before, I converted the playhouse into a chicken coop when the chicks were still small (see article playhouse conversion).
The mother and the older chicks wouldn't go to the playhouse on their own. It got really cramped in there. The bantam Amrocks were getting much bigger than the mother (Dutch bantam).

I moved them two or three times when it got dark. After that, they went to the playhouse on their own. The first weeks they slept in there as a family of 4 (mama, 2 pullets one cockerel). But it changed over time. The mama went to the extension after a while. The cockerel started to make too much noise and I gave him to a woman who had lost her rooster recently. In the meanwhile another hen joined then.
There are often changes in the sleeping arrangements. But the 2 younger Amrock hens who hatched in June 2024, always sleep in the playhouse.
(You can read more in my personal thread, link in my signature - start reading summer 2024)

 

[AshVau22]

I have two coops. They pick where they like to sleep between the two. I don't have a run so I have no advice for that. Once in awhile someone will mixed it up and be in the other coop but for the most part they are all older now and have there spot. I'm planning to build another coop this spring for more chickens lol my goal is like a little town of chicken coops.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where the ladies try to sardine-can it and all fit into one coop?

That can happen. I've had them crowded in a coop by the standards of this forum. They had other options but they chose to crowd together. The only "problem" I had was that I had to manage the poop more aggressively, it really piled up.

I'm a firm believer in giving them as much room as you reasonably can. Crowding them can sometimes cause aggression. Crowding can cause a normal interaction to blow up and become a major problem. One way chickens defuse potential issues is that one rums away so they need room to run away. One way they prevent these issues is that they avoid each other so they need room to avoid.

Just because yours squeeze into a coop (if they do) does not mean that you will see aggressive issues. If you leave them locked in that coop until lunchtime you are much more likely to see issues than if you let them out shortly after daylight. If you consider your run predator safe and never lock the pop door to lock them in they can manage that themselves.

You can see by these different posts that people manage this all kinds of different ways. Problems are always possible no matter what you do but often you don't really have them. My suggestion is to build the new coop and run big enough for all the chickens you will have. You may still have problems but it will not be due to lack of space. Don't expect problems but have the flexibility to deal with them if they show up.