Sharing run wall between two pens?

[Doc7]

Is there any issues if I share a run wall? It will save on hardware cloth costs and additionally look better in my yard if my “addition” is a small (for 3 birds) coop and run that shares a wall with the existing run rather than stick a separate coop and run somewhere on my property.

Just looking to know if there are any problems caused by having two flocks (6 birds and 3 birds) that can full see each other through a shared hardware cloth wall. Of course they could peck at each other but I don’t foresee that in itself being that much of an issue.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Shouldn't be any problems.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Should be fine. Keep in mind it won't work for medical quarantine if that's something you do/want to do, otherwise no reason not to save a little money. If birds are pecking at each other you can just put some plywood against the shared fence to block their sight.

 

[Doc7]

Thanks all. Adding to my flock of BO, BR, EE, Partridge Rock, Delaware, and New Hampshire Red...

 

[aart]

Would be advantageous for integration...especially if you brood the chicks in the small coop and have an opening between the 2 runs.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

 

[Doc7]

Would be advantageous for integration...especially if you brood the chicks in the small coop and have an opening between the 2 runs.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

My integration plan Was to brood the new chicks in the existing coop with 3 out of 6 current hens and a panic room style hardware cloth wall, and move 3 retired hens (in their last summer of laying before freezer camp in October) would be in the new coop. That way I don’t over populate either coop.

What you may be suggesting @aart is that the new chicks be raised in the new small coop and the 6 existing hens stay in their coop. At some point (3 Weeks) I open doors
For panic room style integration in the runs. I guess my concern with this is that I feel the older hens will have an easier time of splitting into two flocks of 3 and adding the chicks to one all in one go, rather than go from a 6 chicken flock, then to a 9 chicken flock, then back to a 6 and a 3 (because at some point I need to keep them separate 3 in one coop/run and 6 in the other, to avoid over crowding issues).

I was going to treat the new 3 hen set up as my “retirement home” for my 3 oldest hens. They already know how to roost and lay in nest boxes and use a coop ramp, so they will be the most adaptable to throwing in a different coop. I wanted the new chicks to observe these behaviors in the bigger coop from the 3 older (1 year) hens they live with.

Am I just way over thinking this?

Oh second thought - the new coop is not
Going to be as winterized, eg no water heater lightbulb Setup and probably not as concerned about drafty wind conditions because I only plan on using it May through October for fully grown hens. They will go to freezer camp in October and the new oldest ladies move in when new chicks arrive at the big coop the following spring.

 

[aart]

What you may be suggesting @aart is that the new chicks be raised in the new small coop and the 6 existing hens stay in their coop. At some point (3 Weeks) I open doors
For panic room style integration in the runs.

Yes, that was my thought/suggestion...guess I missed the part about a split adult flock.

Am I just way over thinking this?

Could be.
I leave my older birds in with the flock until they are ready for freezer camp.

 

[Doc7]

Yes, that was my thought/suggestion...guess I missed the part about a split adult flock.

Could be.
I leave my older birds in with the flock until they are ready for freezer camp.

I like that idea, but I think that then come November I have 3 adult birds and 3 pullets who have been living in separate coops who need to be combined for having only coop built for winter conditions.

Such is life having 9 birds and a 3 bird sized coop and a 6 bird sized coop!

 

[sourland]

Shouldn't be any problems.

Probably no problem with pullets and hens. Cockerels/roosters would be another story.

 

[aart]

I like that idea, but I think that then come November I have 3 adult birds and 3 pullets who have been living in separate coops who need to be combined for having only coop built for winter conditions.

You have 6 adult birds in one coop, correct?
3 new chicks brooded in small coop next spring, then integrated in with 6 adults at 4-6 weeks. So you'll have 9 birds all living together by fall, then you remove the ones you want to cull before winter.