New flock/old flock/someone elses flock! any suggestions

[michellepagan]

So far this year I have had a huge problem with my flock. My roo was killed on a Sunday (in March) on Monday my dog (husky) flipped my coops and killed my 7 girls. One of my cats got one of my EE chicks that were brooding in the house. So my other 10 chicks went to my moms house to finish feathering out. Built / remodeled our winter coop and moved in 13 chicks...my Rotwieler went through the side of the coop and 10 of my girls were killed. So I replaced them again!! And have "dog repellent" (undergroumd fence with shock collars) around my coop. So now I have 10 chicks anywhere from 12-16 weeks old. Today I picked up a new already established flock someone wanted to get rid of. My chicks are a huge variety , the new birds are about 2 years old. 6hens and a roo these guys and gals are all buff orpingtons. I penned my chicks in a small coop inside my big coop (8'x8'). I know this coop is to small and we are in the process of putting a 10x30 coop in our pole barn.

We have had a huge flock drama this year but my kids are excited to eat "yummy" eggs again!

So the question becomes how long do I need to keep the flocks seperated like this. They can see hear and are really penned together. But the buffs are really flighty. The roo seems to be doing okay. He was really calm when i went into the coop to feed and water everyone tonight. I figure I probably wont get eggs before next week but we are going to check daily just in case.

And just one more question are my chicks old enough to switch to layer feed? Several of the birds in the new flock are molting so I know the higher protien chick feed won't hurt them any. And will it be okay to break out the bigger oyster shell grit combo that the bigger girls need or should I continue with just plain grit.

Sorry for all the questions. I didn't plan to do this but couldn't stand to see the birds put into the stew pot!!

 

[4 the Birds]

The 3 month old birds are old enough to combine with the 2 year olds as one big flock. A pecking order will be established as things get worked out. Your coop is best protected within a fence area if you have dogs. We have a pack of 7 dogs and they chase the birds along their perimeter fence but they do not dig or go over (you need to be the Alpha to establish what is off limits). We feed layer when pullets join the flock around 8 weeks of age with no problems. Cracked corn works will to serve as a grit and oyster shell grit works well to get hard shell eggs. Hope this helps!

 

[michellepagan]

So I let the flocks mingle, and they seem to be doing pretty good. I let the girls out of the coop today for a little bit and all my little girls came out to play. It too St Francis (the roo) a little bit, but he came out and scoped the yard. The big girls just stayed at the back of the coop. I figure its gonna take a few days for them to get used to my being there. We have lost so many of my girls this year that I don't let them out unless I am standing right there to watch over them. So I pulled some grass (I desperatly need to break out the weed eater!) And they went after the greens real quick even with me standing there. While the roo was out exploring I popped into the coop quick to give everybody a looking over, no wounds, obvious pecking or missing feathers so I think we are good to go. Thanks for the info on the feed. I am gojng to pick up layer feed tonight and mix the last of my chick feed (15 pounds or so) into the layer feed with 17 chickens it should last about two weeks I figure. Is there any special kind of cracked corn I need to look for or is any type okay?

Thanks again for answering my questions so quick.