Two flocks?

[Angry chipmunk]

So we currently have a flock of 18 hens and two roosters. The coop and run are appropriately sized for the flock. We want to expand by 20 hens in the spring. They won't fit in the existing coop set up, but we have a good sized shed we can retrofit. My question is, if we then have two separate flocks, can they free range together? Will they all try to go back to the same coop? Should we just tear down the current coop and build a new bigger one? Ok, that was more than one question...

 

[TLD77]

I help with 43 chickens. They consist of 3 different flocks. They all are let out in the morning and they all return to their same coop each night. The mingle some with each other but it's never been a problem. That is exactly how there are 3, whenever more were added we kept them separated until they were 8 weeks or so and then just let them out with the adult birds.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi to both of you and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've joined us When you have a sec, stop by new member introductions and say hello to the gang. I have multiple shelters with different groups of birds in my pasture. No one seems to be passionate about their assigned house--but they all go in to a house willingly at dusk and haven't had any real issues with that.

 

[chicklets81]

I have 35 chickens, and they consist of 4 mini flocks. I have a baby group who just aclimated to the coop(8 wks), a group not yet laying(12 wks), a group that just started laying (20 wks), and an adult laying group(2 yrs). All of them free-range together, but staying in their own space when they graze, and go back into the coop at dark, starting with the adults first who claim their roost spot, and then the younger ones follow last.