How to get half of my flock into new coop?

[BarnyardChaos]

I don't think chickens bond and form tribal units in an enclosure. Shadrach was talking about totally free range birds over a much greater area than a back yard. In an enclosure, you are very apt to get cockfighting, over-mating and abused pullets.

To the OP - do not get rid of all the little coops - they will be perfect for separating your cockerels from the pullets, which in about a month you will want to do. You will be very hard pressed to keep all those rooster chicks.

A picture of your set up would really help. And as AArt says where are you at in a general way also influences advice.

But to solve the immediate problem, I would just go down at dark, after they have roosted, and put half of them in the other coop. It really does not matter which ones, or even the same ones each night, just half of them. Do that for two or three days. Then at near dark, shut the gate with approximately half on one side and half on the other. At least some of them will have spent the night in each coop and the others will follow them in when there is not another option.

Unless you are in the Deep South, without winter, how they use the coop will change with the seasons. The amount of time spent in the coop changes dramatically with the long nights of winter.

Mrs K

This ^^^

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you, but that's not what I meant to imply. I meant to suggest that if the OP wants to ensure that birds use both coops, she could completely separate them with a second run; and because hens will bond with a specific rooster, it makes sense (to me) to put a rooster in each coop/run with the hens that have already bonded with him instead of upsetting their family (or "tribal," as Shadrach would say) units.

If she can identify the "tribal" units, I suppose it could still work with one run. But she would have to physically train the groups to use their own separate coops by separating them every night until they do it on their own. On the other hand, would there be more aggression during the day because of the separation at night? Hmmm.... maybe so, maybe not. A separate run would eliminate that possibility, and no training needed.

After sleeping on this conundrum, I agree with others who have suggested just getting a bigger coop. Makes the most sense.

Thanks for clarifying, Chaos! I think it would be fairly easy to separate into groups at this point since they are so young, don't you? They probably have not established themselves into specific tribes or family groupes just yet. And in my observation, chickens are not all that loyal in any case. I believe they'll bond to the available rooster without significant trauma.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Thanks for clarifying, Chaos! I think it would be fairly easy to separate into groups at this point since they are so young, don't you? They probably have not established themselves into specific tribes or family groupes just yet. And in my observation, chickens are not all that loyal in any case. I believe they'll bond to the available rooster without significant trauma.

I think you're right! It's worth a shot. If it doesn't work out, the OP can split the run, or get a bigger coop.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I think you're right! It's worth a shot. If it doesn't work out, the OP can split the run, or get a bigger coop.

Hope she keeps us posted. If my chicken math continues I may have a similar problem within the year!

 

[Tonyroo]

Be aware that keeping large fowl and bantam together might be disastrous. Large birds will bully the small ones.