What breeds should I add to my mixed flock

[Percheron chick]

Your coop is only 16 sq ft. You are already over capacity. I wouldn't add any more.

 

[Folly's place]

That's why I thought the run should turn into coop!
Mary

 

[DrFeathers]

Run does have a roof and the hardware cloth walls are covered in 6mil plastic for the winter so it is essentially one large coop if you want to look at it that way.

 

[aart]

Your EE is probably doing a partial molt,
she'll start laying again but who knows when.
EE's are often not stellar layers.

No, not enough space, IMO.
See how your 6, who grew up together, are faring in March.
Winter has just begun.
Having the run enclosed will help, but still.
I hope you left some of run uncovered for ventilation.

As I said before, integration takes extra space,
you might not understand that until you do an integration.
Adding birds is a whole other ballgame than just keeping a group of hatch mates.

Your rotation plan is decent, theoretically, but it probably won't go quite that smooth. I wait to cull older hens until after pullets are laying. By then tho, it can be cold, not fun slaughtering in the cold weather and it's hard to sell a 1.5-2.5yo bird in the fall to someone who knows birds...they don't want to feed a non-productive bird all winter either.

In my now 4th winter have 8 hens, 8 pullets, and a cockerel. Most of the pullets are laying, one keeps going broody(3wks of no eggs, even with a quick breaking of her broodiness). A couple of the hens are laying again after their late summer molts, some are still molting. And all this is with supplemental lighting, which can help with egg production, or not so much.

Even with 96sqft of floor space and another 30sqft of roost boards(5.5-7.5sqft per bird) is kinda crowded in there, and thus stressful, during the frigid week long blizzard we are now experiencing...they ain't going outside, my run is uncovered with only a small area that is sheltered, even tho I shovel part of the run.

 

[DrFeathers]

Your EE is probably doing a partial molt,
she'll start laying again but who knows when.
EE's are often not stellar layers.

No, not enough space, IMO.
See how your 6, who grew up together, are faring in March.
Winter has just begun.
Having the run enclosed will help, but still.
I hope you left some of run uncovered for ventilation.

As I said before, integration takes extra space,
you might not understand that until you do an integration.
Adding birds is a whole other ballgame than just keeping a group of hatch mates.

Your rotation plan is decent, theoretically, but it probably won't go quite that smooth. I wait to cull older hens until after pullets are laying. By then tho, it can be cold, not fun slaughtering in the cold weather and it's hard to sell a 1.5-2.5yo bird in the fall to someone who knows birds...they don't want to feed a non-productive bird all winter either.

In my now 4th winter have 8 hens, 8 pullets, and a cockerel. Most of the pullets are laying, one keeps going broody(3wks of no eggs, even with a quick breaking of her broodiness). A couple of the hens are laying again after their late summer molts, some are still molting. And all this is with supplemental lighting, which can help with egg production, or not so much.

Even with 96sqft of floor space and another 30sqft of roost boards(5.5-7.5sqft per bird) is kinda crowded in there, and thus stressful, during the frigid week long blizzard we are now experiencing...they ain't going outside, my run is uncovered with only a small area that is sheltered, even tho I shovel part of the run.

Yes top 4-6” is open for blow across air exchange. And there is another “outside” roost bar added aside from the one in that picture - 8’ of inside and 8+’ of “outside” roosts.

My game plan was going to convert an old kids playhouse to a mini coop for the youngest 3 and place next to run (under the tree) when the new pullets are ready to move outside. The see but don’t touch concept. Then eventually integrate while free ranging. But you think even 9 layers in there for a few months is too much? I should just do the full replace of 6 new girls at age 2-2.5 instead of rotating?

 

[Folly's place]

I've never done 'full replacement', and won't. Some older birds will do fine longer. If you sort the better laying hens from the others, that would be most helpful.
Aart and I agree that you just don't have enough space!
I think another bigger coop; watch for craigslist or other sales on garden sheds, and modify one for your flock. Twelve birds do best in a coop AT LEAST 4x bigger than your current structure, and walking into a coop is so much better!
Some of my birds roost eight ft. up in the rafters!
Your integration plan is very good!
Mary

 

[Percheron chick]

I would never do a full replacement either. I need some mature layers at all time.
You could solve your space shortage by converting the existing coop for the silkies and making the run the new and improved coop for the big girls. Add on separate runs for the 2 groups. At 6x8, it would be adequate for 10-12 hens.

 

[aart]

Yes top 4-6” is open for blow across air exchange. And there is another “outside” roost bar added aside from the one in that picture - 8’ of inside and 8+’ of “outside” roosts.

My game plan was going to convert an old kids playhouse to a mini coop for the youngest 3 and place next to run (under the tree) when the new pullets are ready to move outside. The see but don’t touch concept. Then eventually integrate while free ranging. But you think even 9 layers in there for a few months is too much? I should just do the full replace of 6 new girls at age 2-2.5 instead of rotating?

Might work....time will tell.
Are you going to get chicks?
Easier to coop brood in a 'look don't touch' area, then integrate them when young.
Incredibly less stressful integration for all.....but still need ample space.
When a dominant bird pecks a subordinate away, it means 4-6 feet away.
If subordinate can't get that far away, dominant continue to peck it.

Full replacement will leave you without eggs for 6 months....you could do that if you want.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some people fixate on coop size in isolation. Chickens don’t see it that way. They don’t care if space is in the coop, coop plus run, or some other variation as long as it is available when they need it. What is important is your space system and how you manage it, not the size of an isolated component. There are a lot of “if’s” involved. If you consider your run predator proof so your chickens can have access to it when they are awake instead of being locked in the coop only and if you have the run protected against your New York winters so they can go out in it any time they need extra space you could be OK from a gross space concern. That will involve more than just covering the run though, snow and wind can blow in from the sides. It sounds like you have managed that but I don’t know if they are locked in that 4x4 area only for any length of time.

The other issue is how much you are trying to put in the 4x4 area. Best I can tell it is for roosting only. The nests, feed, and water are outside. Six can obviously sleep on one 4’ long roost since they are doing that. The chickens will want to all sleep on the top roost, you may find that even more can crowd on there. People have used ladder-type roosts for thousands of years. They work. The ones higher in the pecking order will sleep on top, the weaker ones will sleep on the lower one. It can be fairly rough as they are settling down at night sorting all that out but the chickens can manage.

The problem comes in with integration though. Once the chickens are all mature enough they’ll work it out. But until they are all mature the mature ones often really enjoy being brutal to the immature ones. That’s just the way chickens are, many can be real bullies toward younger ones. Not all are but often many are. That’s the problem with integrating immature birds, until they mature they are usually afraid of the adults for a good reason. They are not going to share roosts, often they don’t want to even sleep in the same coop, especially when it is that small. They just can’t stay far enough away from the adults to keep from getting pecked. They may try sleeping in your nests or they may really want to sleep outside.

You are going to have the same issues with your run space. Even with the coop, run, and space under the coop, you just don’t have enough room for the immature to avoid the mature. It’s not an issue of some magic square feet per bird ratio, it is whether or not they can avoid the older. In your set-up they would have great problems doing that.

Since you are making that run area available in your New York winter I think your current set-up should work really well for six hens that grew up together so they have worked out pecking order and integration. I’m a strong believer in making as much space available for your chickens as you can, if you follow the link in my signature you can maybe see some reasons why. You might be able to add another mature hen or two to that set-up and be OK after you got past integration, but I would not. Even if all you are using that coop for is roosting I’d consider it just too tight. Part of that is that the more chickens you crowd into that space the harder you will have to work, like with poop management. But my big concern is that crowded that tight you have absolutely no flexibility in handling any situation that comes up. You just don’t have room to handle anything unless things always go perfectly. Your stress level could go through the roof with just what should be a fairly minor issue since you don’t have room to respond.

To me that leaves you with two options. One is to totally replace your flock with pullets when egg laying drops below acceptable levels and go without eggs for the total time period that involves. You’ve shown you can handle those numbers.

The other would be to build a grow-out coop situated next to your current coop and include a fairly substantial run with it, at least as big as your current set-up. Have a door or preferably a human sized walk-through gate between the two runs so you can isolate the grow-out coop and run when you want to but open it so they get all the run space when you don’t need to keep the chicks isolated. Let the chicks continue to sleep in that grow-out coop as long as they wish, don’t crowd them into that tiny 4x4 until they are at least laying unless they make the switch on their own earlier.

That’s fairly close to what I do but I have an additional area in electric netting so they have plenty of additional room. I pretty much open the gate between runs but don’t force them to be together. Let them mix at their own pace. This set-up gives me a lot of flexibility in how I manage them, very little stress. I often move my pullets into the main coop at 12 weeks but my coop is 8’ x 12’, not a tiny 4x4. In your situation I’d build that grow-out coop bigger, at least 4x8, and make it the main coop.

I don’t know what the right answer is for you. Personally, with your current set-up, I would not add any more chickens. I think you are at your capacity.

 

[BantyChooks]

I have not found Silkies (hatchery Silkies) to be 'special needs'. I don't like them much in production or temperament but they are fine without extra care.... just a note of my experiences with them.