Two movable coops across 3 acre pastures... what will the chickens do?

[thistlewick]

We are going to have 20 chickens across 2 coops to free-range on our pastures -- it is a little bit of chickens for a LOT of pasture but that's ok, it will keep our grass from getting destroyed and they will have ample grass and bugs.

What I am curious about is what will 20 chickens do between 2 coops? One has 12 feet of roosting space and the second one I am looking at will have 8 -- that is technically 20 feet of roosting space for them BUT -- will they accommodate themselves? Will they all try and crush into one? Will they change every night?

Why don't I have a coop for 20 chickens you ask?! Well, I wanted more. That's why. There is really no other reason. So my bad.

So now I find myself in this curious situation. Anyone have any experience with this and have an idea of what I'm getting myself into?

Should I separate them? I can. I can artificially make "two" flocks and put them far apart from each other -- but because they are both going to be free-ranging, they probably will see each other.

Some new baby chicks photos for cuteness, just picked them up today (2 straight run Americauna and 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets)

 

[Debbie292d]

Gorgeous chicks!

As for two coops. Well, if you have two groups of chickens and each has their leader whether it's a rooster or a lead hen, once they get used to "their" coop, they would keep going to it. I am not quite sure how you'd train them though which coop they should go to.

The only issue I see is that we have two, three groups of chickens, and that sometimes changes, like one hen is with one rooster one day, and another the next.

Chickens are a creature of habit though so I think it'll work in the end if you just let them decide and see what happens. If they all go to one, then you could go in there at night and take out the ones you want to be in the other one and sit them in there and leave them in there for a couple of days.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

How many square feet of floor space does each coop have? You need to provide at least 4 sq ft of floor space for each hen. So what I would do in your situation is figure out how many adult hens would fit in each coop based on those figures. Then, when the chicks are about three weeks old and ready to move outside, I'd divide them into the coops they're eventually going to live in and leave them inside there until they're about five or six weeks old. Ideally, then I'd have a pen around each one, a fenced run, so they could be outside of the coop during the day, but protected. I don't think I'd let them completely free range until they're 15 or 16 weeks old.

 

[Perris]

What I am curious about is what will 20 chickens do between 2 coops? One has 12 feet of roosting space and the second one I am looking at will have 8 -- that is technically 20 feet of roosting space for them BUT -- will they accommodate themselves? Will they all try and crush into one? Will they change every night?

I have 4 coops and (currently) 23 chickens, including 4 roos, so I can speak to this from experience.

I position the coops close, and when I move them around the garden (frequently) they get rearranged; sometimes they are in a line like one side of a street, sometimes in a circle like a wagon train (pop doors facing inward), sometimes two each side facing each other like a suburban road, and so on. The chickens have no problems adjusting. There is no fixed pattern of who roosts with whom, or how many go into any coop any night. Sometimes I intervene if a coop or two is empty when I go to shut the doors, and they've all piled in for a party in one or both of the other two to such an extent that some are in the nest boxes. Although there are 4 coops and 4 roos, they don't take one each. For example, last night two coops had two roos each and the other two were occupied only by hens and pullets. So yes, they will accommodate themselves as they choose. Yes sometimes many of them will want to cosy up for the night. And yes, they will change, though not necessarily every night. There are groups of close hen friends within the flock, who tend to roost together come what may, and most of them have a look into a coop to see who's there before they decide where to roost for the night.

Here's a photo of the coops in a ring for example (the 4th is on the far side, hidden by the nearest one)

 

[thistlewick]

I have 4 coops and (currently) 23 chickens, including 4 roos, so I can speak to this from experience.

I position the coops close, and when I move them around the garden (frequently) they get rearranged; sometimes they are in a line like one side of a street, sometimes in a circle like a wagon train (pop doors facing inward), sometimes two each side facing each other like a suburban road, and so on. The chickens have no problems adjusting. There is no fixed pattern of who roosts with whom, or how many go into any coop any night. Sometimes I intervene if a coop or two is empty when I go to shut the doors, and they've all piled in for a party in one or both of the other two to such an extent that some are in the nest boxes. Although there are 4 coops and 4 roos, they don't take one each. For example, last night two coops had two roos each and the other two were occupied only by hens and pullets. So yes, they will accommodate themselves as they choose. Yes sometimes many of them will want to cosy up for the night. And yes, they will change, though not necessarily every night. There are groups of close hen friends within the flock, who tend to roost together come what may, and most of them have a look into a coop to see who's there before they decide where to roost for the night.

Here's a photo of the coops in a ring for example (the 4th is on the far side, hidden by the nearest one)
View attachment 3868214

YESSS this is exactly what I was needing thank you so much!!

I LOVE the moving around of the coops, facing each other or wagon circling ideas, that sounds fun.

At the end of the day, we will have 3 coops (I have a small one now that I am using for our 4-6 week olds, they are outside in a coop/run and THEY LOVE IT!) We let them free range for a little bit every other day and they love that too, but they also love to run back to their run most of the time <3

That pack of original 13 have a Cockerel (we call him Sarge, bc he's the boss!) and he minds them already so well. We adore him.

I hope to have another Cockerel from this new batch of 7 (ideally would love a Black Copper Maran one but haven't found one yet, might get one from these Americauna chicks I just got, too)

I'm ordering another Coop w/small attached run for a grand total of 22 feet of roosting space and 48 square feet of coop space. Run doesn't matter because they will eventually all be free ranging sunup to sundown.. though there *are* runs on each coop.

I could perhaps get a fourth coop, a smaller one (I'm not made of money) to spread the load even more.