That is a really good idea. Yes, I have three rooster cages, so I can take the two out and try to let the hens get acquainted. The barnyard rooster definitely needs to go, he's done his job but I just don't have the room to keep a rooster that I'm not interested in breeding. I'm hoping that I can rehome him, but if not, he'll probably be stew. Right now, I'm just waiting for the paint to dry in the new condo and then I'll be able to move the roosters (in cages) while the girls are out. Usually, I have to free range on a schedule, to keep the two roosters apart. The new hen apartment has 75 sq ft of inside coop with another 320 square feet of outside space. I'll only be putting 6 hens in there to begin with, so plenty of room for them to figure out who is where in the pecking order. It is also a two story, so the hens will be able to separate into groups if they want. Free ranging them together should be interesting. Usually the pen that is not out is standing by the gate waiting for their turn. I'm not sure they'll know what to do!
Another thing that I might do is to take down the fence after they've gone to bed after free ranging together. Then, they can all come out of their houses (I have automatic doors) in the morning as if they are one big happy family! I'll move the door during the day, then close up their old coops so that they can't get back into them. Encourage with the shaking of the treats to go into the new run about 2 hours before sunset. Sounds like a plan to me. Maybe even leave another condo apartment that I'm not using open in case there is a problem? What do you think?
I like the idea but have a question for bumpercarr...does either rooster help with the flock? A good rooster will help mitigate the hen squabbles and might be a good tool as the girls get used to the new surroundings and shifting the pecking order. It might be helpful to get the rooster...or rather the girls who are unfamiliar with him...comfortable with each other and then introduce roo and the subflock to the whole flock...unless the roo is a jerk and needs taken down a notch...then I'd go the path fisherlady suggested.
I would say that the roosters are both close to the bottom of the pecking order. Of course, they find treats, they warn of danger, and the barnyard mix will charge at me when I bother his hens (nothing serious, just making a point), the brahma knows that I am the boss and just watches carefully when I mess with his hens. But neither rooster gets involved in the day to day squabbles of the hens. They are both good roosters, just don't want to breed to the barnyard mix...trying to move into brahmas only. I'm a little worried about letting the brahma rooster in with the laying hens. They are generally pretty small (about 3-4 lbs) and he's so big (about 11 lbs and growing) he might inadvertently hurt them. I only want to breed him to the brahmas, so he may have to stay out of the group until I have selected the brahma hens that I want him to breed with to go back with the girls in a breeding pen. My rooster cages are big, 3x5, so he'll have room in there and he can come out to free range when all of the hens are in and I can watch to make sure he doesn't find a way to sneak into the hen condo. I can select the brahma eggs as they are different than the layers eggs, but still, worried about his size. Anyway, I can worry about that later, the bigger issue is getting the hens to join. Of course, every time I pull some out to breed, we'll have to go through this all over again.
