Placed my order today...

[crazychickenwom]

I placed my order with Myer today...

I think "chicken math" is already a problem for me...

Pick up end of March...

3 Buff Orphington Hens
3 Rhode Island Red Hens
3 Colombian Wyandotte Hens
3 Barred Rock Hens
1 ?? (Myer Meal Maker)
20 Meats...

Pick up Beginning of June...

2 Easter Egger Hens
2 Buckeye Hens
2 Salmon Faverolle Hens
3 Light Brahma Hens
1 Salmon Faverolle Roo
1 ?? (Myer Meal Maker)

Starting with 44, think I am going to be very busy!!

I cannot wait till March! Guess I better get to work on those coops!

I plan on housing my meats and layers separately, will the hens and roo coming in June be ok to put in with the hens from late March, at the appropriate stage of development for going outside of course...

Also, what is the best way to water so many chickens?? I have got feeding them covered, but watering them, that is a whole problem for me...

Thanks for the advice!

 

[fried green eggs]

WOW your going to be busy. LOL They sell 1,3 & 5 gal waterers you can use for small chicks that can sit on floor and /or can be hung. I purchased the water nipples on-line and made hanging waterers that have worked great for me. March to June chicks probably need to be kept apart until they are close in size. Check site for introducing young ones to older ones. This site is great for all your questions, just type in a question or key words in the Search and you will find the info. and much more you didn't know you needed to know lol
A year ago I had never heard the term "Chicken Math" What I have learned since then ! I built a large "hen" coop, a smaller "chick" coop, and a tractor - last Spring. This Spring I will be converting a 10 x 16 garden shed into a "molting - and Winter" coop for last years chicks. I love my set-up. I hope you have fun designing your : )

 

[felidaet]

My experience is that you can not mix chicks more than 3 weeks difference in age until they are 16 - 18 weeks old. And even 3 weeks is a big difference if the younger ones are only a couple of days old. Sine you also have meat birds it looks lie you will have three separate flocks of birds for awhile. When the younger flock of layers is at least 16 weeks old you can integrate them with the older layers.

For me integration was easy. I have two coops that share one run. All of the older birds were placed in one coop and then the run was divided with chicken wire. (It was only a divider between the two flocks, not a fence to keep out preditors.) The younger birds were placed in the 2nd coop. They would see each other every day through the chicken wire divider. They were like this for several weeks. When the younger birds were about 18 weeks old I took down the divider. It took a few hours before any of the birds crossed into the other flocks area. Finally one of the younger birds went into the older birds area. The older birds were afraid of it at first. It took a couple of days before all of them would roam freely in the entire run. There all got along fine. There was very little problems with establishing pecking order. I am going to replace some of my flock this spring with new chicks. I will use the same integration technique this summer.

You asked about water. I have a 5 gallon and a 7 gallon plastic waterer. One is placed in each coop. I keep the food, water, grit, and oyster shell in the coops. For 35 layers this is enough water for about 4 days in the summer and 6 - 7 days in the winter.

 

[crazychickenwom]

First, thank you both for your replies, after posting the question and doing some more research here on BYC, and beginning my coops I have come up with this plan. First of all for the meats I built a movable tractor that will accommodate all 20 of them, as well as allow me to move them to many different places of the yard that will benefit from the fertilizer that they will provide. As for the hens and roo I built a 7 x 7 coop and am now adding another 7 x 7 right up against it. This will allow me to still use the same run space, as well as the ability to open the whole 14 x 14 space to all of them once they are able to be put together. I plan to do as felidaet suggested and keep them apart using chicken wire at first, until they are nearly the same size. I plan to do this in the coop as well as in the run. Hopefully by allowing them to see each other at night as well as all day will help with the process. As soon as this small amount of winter weather passes I will post pictures of what I have accomplished so far.


Thanks again for the advice!

 

[fried green eggs]

Glad to help. Sounds like you really have been buzy

Great Plan!