how to get chcickens to go in separate coops?

[gryeyes]

I have several coops, all different sizes, and my chickens choose where they want to sleep, too. The seniors own the Main Coop, and occasionally allow a younger bird in with them. I've noticed some coop hopping of late and found it curious as to which chicken moved into this or that coop.

Also, some of they lay eggs in one coop and sleep in another.

I'm not into breeding, so it doesn't matter to me.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

I think you will have more problems with the different roos fighting than you will have them returning to the coops. We had 3 groups in 3 coops because of their ages. All were in a big kennel area and separated by lower fencing. When we eliminated the interim fencing, the groups still slept in their own coops even tho they mingled during the day. As the roos matured, we had issues between them.
Right now we have only a main group and a single roo/hen combo: roo wants to be top dog and hen was being picked on so we put them together for the winter. It worked well to keep them both happy. The main group has two roos. In another month, we will be separating the breeds and putting up the interim fencing to get some pure eggs for hatching.
The plan is then to rehome the extra roos and merge the flock for the summer.

 

[commosmart1]

If a welsummer and dominique are bred what will the offspring look like?

 

[Wild Trapper]

My next door neighbor lets their chickens free range. I have mine in a fenced yard, so they don't inter breed. I do have five of their hens living in my coop, giving me eggs and eating my feed. They were slated for the freezer, so I just adopted them.

If you want to incubate eggs from each, then you have to keep them apart, if not then I see no reason to even keep them in separate coops. From what I understand, you are wishing to either incubate eggs or hoping for a broody hen to set some eggs and do not want cross breed chicks.

 

[jockey1975]

I keep my breeds separate and they in the same coops every night. I just left them shut up in the coop and run for about 2 weeks, then turned them out separately (alternating day) for about 2 weeks. Now when I go out there with my scratch feed and call chick, chick, chick, they all go where I want them to.

 

[thedancingemu]

How often do you want to hatch pure breed chickens? If you only want to do it once or twice a year, rather than all year round, you could keep them together when you're not breeding them. I don't have chickens yet, but my plan is to separate them into breeding flocks a few weeks before they're moved back to pasture in the spring (I'm thinking I will keep the coops together in my mulched garden over the winter) and just raise pure breed chicks in the spring. Maybe I'll let some fertile mutt eggs hatch later in the season when they're all ranging together, if I don't like the results, I can always eat them.

Hens can store sperm, I've heard it takes up to 30 days to insure paternity, so even if your flocks range together most of the year, if you separate your breeding flock from the rest of them for 30 days, you can make sure your hens haven't been mating with any other roosters recently enough to effect the eggs you want hatched.

Roosters can fight with each other, but if you make sure each of them has a good sized harem and enough space to feel comfortable, most breeds won't fight much, although a little sparring to establish dominance is normal, they'll usually figure things out and part ways before either is injured. This depends on the roosters though, if you get an aggressive breed, or you don't introduce them gradually so they can get used to each other, or you happen to have a particularly mean rooster, you still might have a problem.

Again, I don't have chickens yet, but I've been doing an extensive amount of reading on the subject, so this is all second hand info.