Thank you for answering. We built a 10 foot long A frame movable type coop from a set of plans. This coop was designed with the nesting and roost at the top (where our girls sleep and lay eggs) and a wire mesh enclosure of 5 x 10 feet at the bottom. There is a hinged ramp in the center that we lower each morning for the chickens to access the roost to lay their eggs. But.............we have a walled back yard bordered by shrubs and trees, with a lawn in the center, so the girls have always been free range during the day - not enclosed in the lower portion of the coop. They have access to multi water feeders, lawn for bugs and worms, border gardens for plants, dirt baths and a vegetable garden for munching on artichoke, kale and other vegetables that they can reach through the bamboo fencing. We have heard it is difficult to introduce new chickens - but we are thinking about getting new chicks -3 because we don't want Ethel to be alone and she is only 3. What is the best way to do this? We had not planned on getting older chickens as we had read about diseases, parasites and pecking order problems. Our girls have never had any of these as we bought them at 4 days old, and they have enjoyed a clean (we put our shredded paper from our office in their nesting boxes on a daily basis to recycle) and free range existence since they were fully feathered at 3 mos. We also are leaving to go on vacation in 1 month, so had not planned to get more chickens until we returned (this is when we still had 2), but I don't know if Ethel can survive that long alone. Help! What do you recommend? Thanks so much. We love our girls and their friendship and wonderful eggs.
! Pleased you joined our community! The link CTKen gave you is the method often used. Best of luck with your integration efforts and thanks for joining BYC! 
