Should I resist the itch?

[WildTurkeyDoctors]

I am enjoying my first flock. I have six 12 week old pullets. They live in a 7x7 resin shed modified with ventilation placed inside a 20x20 run. They seem pretty happy! However, I am feeling the itch to add more. I’d like two more, but heard three is better when integrating new birds to existing flock. My local chicken lady has 3 month old pullets available for sale. Other than the bio security risk of adding more....is there any downside to expanding at this point? As in...is 49 sq ft coop and 20x20 run enough space to keep 8-9 full grown hens happy?

ALSO...my neighbor has two 4 week old bantam marans (no clue sex yet). That live in a mobile coop right next to my chicken run. She has hinted she’d like to add her chickens in with mine when they’re older. However, I figure they’ll never be the same size so it won’t be safe for them. Am I correct on that?

 

[Ridgerunner]

My guess as to why you were told three is better than two is that sometimes chickens die. If you start with three and one dies the others still have a buddy to hang with until they reach maturity. But that is just my guess.

is 49 sq ft coop and 20x20 run enough space to keep 8-9 full grown hens happy?

Full grown hens that are fully integrated? Should be plenty of space. In Austin you should have weather where they can use that run every day of the year.

The challenge might be integrating three 1-month-old chicks with your six 3-month-old chicks. You should have enough room to do that but you might need to do some building so you can separate them for a while. I don't know what your facilities look like or how predator proof you consider your run so I don't know if that would be something inside your coop or in the run. Don't build something that will become an oven in the sun and provide lots of shade.

However, I figure they’ll never be the same size so it won’t be safe for them. Am I correct on that?

Not in my opinion. Lots of people have mixed flocks with both bantams and full sized fowl. You'd need to go through integration and you may be getting tight on space with 11, but the differences in size isn't the issue.

 

[Mrs. K]

Yes I think you can add them. Make sure the run has a lot of clutter, not just an open bare rectangle where a bird at any place in the run can see all of the other birds in the run. I see a lot of runs like that. Hideouts, roosts, multiple feed spots base so that a bird eating at one spot cannot see a bird eating at another spot.

12 weeks = 3 months. So all your birds, will be the same age. I would leave some room for next year. I like a multigenerational flock. It is a better chicken society, and it makes for better egg production, but you have to be comfortable culling and adding chicks each year. A lot of people are not when they first start out.

Mrs K

 

[WildTurkeyDoctors]

I don't know what your facilities look like or how predator proof you consider your run so I don't know if that would be something inside your coop or in the run. Don't build something that will become an oven in the sun and provide lots of shade.

Thanks a bunch for the response! It’s not adequately predator proof, but working on that. I lost my only rooster last week. He was a bantam so smaller than the others, but raised with them from the beginning. I think it must have been an owl. I don't have a roof on my run, only a bunch of mason line strung across to dissuade Arial predators. It happened around dusk. I didn't see it, but he was just gone without a trace. The walls are six feet tall and surrounded by boulders on outside base, so I could tell nothing dug under. I had seen a fox come by a couple days in a row prior to him going missing. I have no doubt a fox could climb the fence, but I think he would have killed more than one chicken and surely there would have been a feather mess. Anyway, I have since doubled the amount of mason line strung around across the run and added a lot more areas for chickens to hide. Also mounted a fake owl on the corner post of the run. I ordered some 25'x25' Bird-X netting off Amazon, but it's back ordered so won't get till July. I also bought a 2 mile Zareba electric fence charger, aluminum wire and some plastic electric wire post and figure I'll run an electric wire around the top of the run posts to prevent any critters from climbing over. Have to put at the top so my little kids can't get zapped. The only problem is I have no idea how to install something like that and I'm a bit creeped out by electricity, so I'm going to try to find instructions somewhere on youtube.

Anyway, thank you for the responses. I went and bought three 9-10 week old pullets this morning and have one corner of the run portioned off with a puppy pen fence and some shade so they have some time to eye ball each other before totally integrating them. They new girls are noticeably smaller, so I'm a tad worries, but hopefully it'll go well. I got same breeds as my other girls so hoping the "birds of a feather" thing will win them some allies.