Switching flocks?

[turkey girl 0964]

We have two coops, an established coop of 5 year old hens 5 Orps, 3 Barred rocks, an EE, and 2 Sapphire Gems. The other ''teenager'' coop has 2 Orps and a roo, 2 Barred rocks and their roo, a 2 year old RIR, a 2 year old Austrolorpe, and two tiny little bantams. I was wondering if I could ''switch'' flocks and put all the Orps in the one coop and put the barred rocks and the other hens in the larger coop. Could this work or will I just have a lot of fighting and a bloody mess? Will the hens miss each other? I am open to anyones advice.

 

[Cassandra Lana]

I think they would miss each other

 

[Mrs. K]

I don't think they will miss each other. But a lot depends on the circumstances. So
Do you:

• have measurements of the coops/ runs
• do you have hideouts, and clutter in the runs
• do you have multiple feed bowls
• do the flocks ever interact as in a free ranging set up or are they next to each other in their own pens?

And to make sure I under stand it, you want to put the 5 older Orps with two younger Orps and a Orp rooster - so 7 birds. I think that if you move the old girls into the young groups coop/run, it should work pretty well, seniority should be about equal with home turf.

I would put the young birds out of the set up, and put the 5 old ladies in the strange coop, for a day, and let the trio back in at night. This lets the birds explore the place without a confrontation. Get it figured out, then the urge to roost is about equal with the urge to fight, I would expect this group to work well, with a minimum dust up, but truthfully anything can happen.

I am a bit more concerned with the other coop. Moving 3 juveniles and two bantams into someone else coop might be a bit more dicey. It will help that you are also moving 2 older birds with them, that do get along together? 7 birds going into a flock of 6 birds is going to help.

I think it can be done, and I would not expect a real wreck, but do watch the bantams and young birds of the second group.

Mrs K

 

[turkey girl 0964]

I don't think they will miss each other. But a lot depends on the circumstances. So
Do you:

• have measurements of the coops/ runs
• do you have hideouts, and clutter in the runs
• do you have multiple feed bowls
• do the flocks ever interact as in a free ranging set up or are they next to each other in their own pens?

And to make sure I under stand it, you want to put the 5 older Orps with two younger Orps and a Orp rooster - so 7 birds. I think that if you move the old girls into the young groups coop/run, it should work pretty well, seniority should be about equal with home turf.

I would put the young birds out of the set up, and put the 5 old ladies in the strange coop, for a day, and let the trio back in at night. This lets the birds explore the place without a confrontation. Get it figured out, then the urge to roost is about equal with the urge to fight, I would expect this group to work well, with a minimum dust up, but truthfully anything can happen.

I am a bit more concerned with the other coop. Moving 3 juveniles and two bantams into someone else coop might be a bit more dicey. It will help that you are also moving 2 older birds with them, that do get along together? 7 birds going into a flock of 6 birds is going to help.

I think it can be done, and I would not expect a real wreck, but do watch the bantams and young birds of the second group.

Mrs K

Tomorrow I will try to get measurements of the coops. The one coop with the younger birds get to wander around the yard, while the other chickens have a large coop. The younger birds seem fine with the 5 year olds but the RIR fights with them a lot, she drew blood though the fence, so she might have to stay in her coop with my Austrolorpe, they are inseparable.