Housing my roosters with my hen

[Charri]

We have 3 chickens that are 6 months old now, they have been together since birth. We have 2 roosters and one hen who is now laying eggs. They have lived in the same coop and they are free ranged during the day. With winter approaching they will obviously be spending more time in the coop. They all get along well right now, very few alpha tiffs, which I pray holds true forever. My question is will they all be ok in the same coop through out the winter months? Should I get another hen to balance it out a bit more? Thank you.
Charri

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

You definitely need to get more hens. I would get four or five, minimum. And that still isn't really enough.

 

[Charri]

thank you for your reply, I have no problem adding to my family. Are they all ok in the same coop? I will obviously have to add on to my existing one if I get more hens. I just want to make sure that I am not suppose to separate them according having hens in one coop and roosters in the other. We are obviously new at this and just love having them around.

 

[Folly's place]

This situation is very unlikely to work out, especially in spring, when the more adult boys really get 'active'. It's going to be abusive to the single hen, in a big way. Generally flocks with two cocks include at least fifteen to twenty hens! Breeders will have a smaller number of hens with one cock in a breeding pen, but never your set. Adding one more pullet won't fix it!!! I'd recommend that you regroup, eliminate one or both cockerels, and get more pullets. Mary

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Hopefully they will be fine in the same coop as long as you have enough space and hens. BUT if they start fighting a lot, you are going to have to remove one of the cockerels. Be prepared to rehome or have a backup plan should this not work out.

 

[Charri]

Thank you for your response.

 

[6littlegirls]

We have 6 hens

. We built them a hutch which is insulated to R16. Then added a run which where we can get to minuse 35 in the winter. They have a reptile night light that is on a temperature regulated plug in. We decided to put a green house up so when planning we decided to have a corner of the run attach to the run so that in the winter the have more room as they have free range on an acrea of land now. I have decided that we need an automatic door opener so when we go away they will be let out and our sitters just have to check their water and feed.

We got the hutch and run design on utube. It came with plans which did some alterations on but it was easy to follow and it did not cost an arm and leg. It wll house up to 8 hens. We now have to look for automatic door opener that is not expensive to build.

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC @Charri !

Agrees with Mary......get rid of one, or both, cockerels.
Assess the size of your coop before adding more pullets/hens.
Integration of more birds takes extra space.