- May 14, 2013
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My first question posted to BYC! 
I currently have three 4ish month old hens, an RIR, buff orpington and a barred rock. All were raised together by a friend until I got them about a month ago. They had also been in with older laying hens an a rooster at the time.
I am in the process of making a new, bigger coop, and he has said I can take a few more chickens from him. They are from the same batch raised with the three I currently have. My hopes are to get matching ones, and have 6 total in sets of 2, if my daughter will let me (she got to pick them last time, lol).
My question is this: do I/should I go through the same method of intro-ing new chickens- the side to side coops, or can they just kinda be put together with the idea of them knowing each other and being the same age?
I probably won't be able to truly side by side the coops (due to shape and ground leveling issues), but I can move the 3 'old' girls to the new coop, and put the current tractor coop w the 3 'new' ones near-ish to it, possibly in the large fenced area I am planning. Or should I just toss all chickens into the new coop on the same day? That way they are all discombobulated at the same time and hopefully wouldn't harrass each other? lol
The new coop is 4 ft x 5.5 ft x 6 ft tall (think a fat outhouse, lol) and will have a predator proof run at least 8 x 8 x 8, if not bigger, and they will also have a bigger dog proof fenced area for supervised foraging. In case that info is needed for the tossing together idea.
Thanks in advance for any ideas! I am new to chickens and finding there is so much to learn! I love reading everyone's threads already.
I currently have three 4ish month old hens, an RIR, buff orpington and a barred rock. All were raised together by a friend until I got them about a month ago. They had also been in with older laying hens an a rooster at the time.
I am in the process of making a new, bigger coop, and he has said I can take a few more chickens from him. They are from the same batch raised with the three I currently have. My hopes are to get matching ones, and have 6 total in sets of 2, if my daughter will let me (she got to pick them last time, lol).
My question is this: do I/should I go through the same method of intro-ing new chickens- the side to side coops, or can they just kinda be put together with the idea of them knowing each other and being the same age?
I probably won't be able to truly side by side the coops (due to shape and ground leveling issues), but I can move the 3 'old' girls to the new coop, and put the current tractor coop w the 3 'new' ones near-ish to it, possibly in the large fenced area I am planning. Or should I just toss all chickens into the new coop on the same day? That way they are all discombobulated at the same time and hopefully wouldn't harrass each other? lol
The new coop is 4 ft x 5.5 ft x 6 ft tall (think a fat outhouse, lol) and will have a predator proof run at least 8 x 8 x 8, if not bigger, and they will also have a bigger dog proof fenced area for supervised foraging. In case that info is needed for the tossing together idea.
Thanks in advance for any ideas! I am new to chickens and finding there is so much to learn! I love reading everyone's threads already.
