Yeah, you put out the exact same food in a new location and the adults think it is candy. They are not real good at sharing it either. Here’s what I did as a creep feeder, just something you can put feed in that the older ones can’t get to but the younger can. Mine needs a bit of repair and could be a lot prettier.
You can follow the link in my signature for more of my thoughts about room. It’s not about a specific amount of room in the coop and a different specific amount of room in the run, it’s about how much room is available to them in total when they need it. I think you do need more room but you have some things working for you, your climate and that should work fairly well to keep snow out this winter so that outside room will probably be available practically every day. You may want to think about putting something on the outside open side to help keep snow from blowing in. Maybe a tarp?
I find the more I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to work on problems when they show up. It’s not a case of at some magic number of space per chicken all problems go away, just the less crowded they are the less likely you are to have some of these problems. The tighter they are the more stressed they are, same as with people. A little elbow room helps. The more chickens you have in a smaller space the more poop builds up so you have to deal with that more. Wasn’t it nice to be able to add that brooder to your existing space without having to do a major construction? Things like that.
Your coop is a bit small by magic number standards but if you just use it as a safe place for them to sleep it should be fine. That means you need to feed and water outside. It might get pretty challenging to fit food and water in there without them pooping in it from the roosts but the big thing is that they don’t need to be locked in there when they are awake. One way chickens have learned to live as a flock is that when there is conflict the weaker runs from the stronger. They need room to run. As long as they have access to the outside they have room to get away from each other when they need it. It really helps to have room to avoid the bullies too.
Sometimes you have a brute and a bully that won’t allow the flock to be peaceful. Those are fairly rare and I don’t allow the very few that show up to stay with my flock. Normally when they are all mature and have the pecking order and flock dominance issues worked out they don’t need a tremendous amount of room just to stop them from trying to kill each other but you still have work and flexibility issues and the behavioral issues don’t entirely go away. But you are going through an integration, they don’t have those issues worked out. The hens will outrank the chicks until the chicks mature enough to force their way into the pecking order. For pullets this is normally after they start to lay. Cockerels are a whole book by themselves. Once they mature into real roosters it normally settles down a bunch but puberty can be really wild and wooly.
I think you will be OK with that coop section as long as outside space is available when they are awake. I’d add extra roost space, not to get a specific number of inches per bird but with the idea of separating them while sleeping, especially during integration. My brooder-raised chicks normally want to start roosting around 10 to 12 weeks of age, though I’ve had some start a lot earlier and some a lot later. My adults can be fairly brutal to the chicks as they are settling in to sleep so the chicks often look for somewhere other than the main roosts for a safe place to sleep. I put in a separate roost, lower than the main roosts and horizontally separated but higher than the nests so that safe place isn’t my nests. I have nine chicks using that separate roost right now.
Since you are currently brooding your chicks in your run you obviously consider your run predator proof. I guess you probably don’t lock your chickens in the coop section at night so they have access to the run whenever they need it? When you get them all in the same coop that means you don’t have to get up real early to open the coop door.
With that many chickens in that small a coop, if you are not already, I’d suggest you use a droppings board and scrape it regularly to reduce the poop load in the coop. That will greatly reduce how often you need to clean out the entire coop.
I really believe in extra room. If it were me I’d build another run, right next to your existing run and with a pop door you can close between them. You’ll need a human door too. If you don’t make the new run predator proof you need to be able to secure any connections between the two at night. I’d go so far to put a separate “coop” in there, maybe a broody buster with a wire floor which is also a place to isolate a chicken if you need to, like the hens that are picking on the chicks. The extra flexibility this gives you is tremendous, especially if you ever integrate again. As nice as you build things this will be a bit expensive but I believe it will make your life go a lot smoother. Some people say that you are just pampering your chickens with all that extra room. No, I’m making my life easier so I’m pampering myself and I’m worth it.
You might be OK with what you have but I really think your next four months will go a lot easier if you add room. Good luck!
You can follow the link in my signature for more of my thoughts about room. It’s not about a specific amount of room in the coop and a different specific amount of room in the run, it’s about how much room is available to them in total when they need it. I think you do need more room but you have some things working for you, your climate and that should work fairly well to keep snow out this winter so that outside room will probably be available practically every day. You may want to think about putting something on the outside open side to help keep snow from blowing in. Maybe a tarp?
I find the more I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to work on problems when they show up. It’s not a case of at some magic number of space per chicken all problems go away, just the less crowded they are the less likely you are to have some of these problems. The tighter they are the more stressed they are, same as with people. A little elbow room helps. The more chickens you have in a smaller space the more poop builds up so you have to deal with that more. Wasn’t it nice to be able to add that brooder to your existing space without having to do a major construction? Things like that.
Your coop is a bit small by magic number standards but if you just use it as a safe place for them to sleep it should be fine. That means you need to feed and water outside. It might get pretty challenging to fit food and water in there without them pooping in it from the roosts but the big thing is that they don’t need to be locked in there when they are awake. One way chickens have learned to live as a flock is that when there is conflict the weaker runs from the stronger. They need room to run. As long as they have access to the outside they have room to get away from each other when they need it. It really helps to have room to avoid the bullies too.
Sometimes you have a brute and a bully that won’t allow the flock to be peaceful. Those are fairly rare and I don’t allow the very few that show up to stay with my flock. Normally when they are all mature and have the pecking order and flock dominance issues worked out they don’t need a tremendous amount of room just to stop them from trying to kill each other but you still have work and flexibility issues and the behavioral issues don’t entirely go away. But you are going through an integration, they don’t have those issues worked out. The hens will outrank the chicks until the chicks mature enough to force their way into the pecking order. For pullets this is normally after they start to lay. Cockerels are a whole book by themselves. Once they mature into real roosters it normally settles down a bunch but puberty can be really wild and wooly.
I think you will be OK with that coop section as long as outside space is available when they are awake. I’d add extra roost space, not to get a specific number of inches per bird but with the idea of separating them while sleeping, especially during integration. My brooder-raised chicks normally want to start roosting around 10 to 12 weeks of age, though I’ve had some start a lot earlier and some a lot later. My adults can be fairly brutal to the chicks as they are settling in to sleep so the chicks often look for somewhere other than the main roosts for a safe place to sleep. I put in a separate roost, lower than the main roosts and horizontally separated but higher than the nests so that safe place isn’t my nests. I have nine chicks using that separate roost right now.
Since you are currently brooding your chicks in your run you obviously consider your run predator proof. I guess you probably don’t lock your chickens in the coop section at night so they have access to the run whenever they need it? When you get them all in the same coop that means you don’t have to get up real early to open the coop door.
With that many chickens in that small a coop, if you are not already, I’d suggest you use a droppings board and scrape it regularly to reduce the poop load in the coop. That will greatly reduce how often you need to clean out the entire coop.
I really believe in extra room. If it were me I’d build another run, right next to your existing run and with a pop door you can close between them. You’ll need a human door too. If you don’t make the new run predator proof you need to be able to secure any connections between the two at night. I’d go so far to put a separate “coop” in there, maybe a broody buster with a wire floor which is also a place to isolate a chicken if you need to, like the hens that are picking on the chicks. The extra flexibility this gives you is tremendous, especially if you ever integrate again. As nice as you build things this will be a bit expensive but I believe it will make your life go a lot smoother. Some people say that you are just pampering your chickens with all that extra room. No, I’m making my life easier so I’m pampering myself and I’m worth it.
You might be OK with what you have but I really think your next four months will go a lot easier if you add room. Good luck!
chicken in that area would make thing very easy to deal with down the road. 
