- Mar 23, 2009
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We have a coop house that holds our 14 laying hens and 2 roos. The Jersey Giant is the dominant roo over the Barred Rock Roo.
We also kept 4 Freedom Rangers from our meat bird flock to breed next spring. We have a magnificent roo and 3 hens. The meat birds are in a small coop we made this summer based on the kids playhouse coop design found on this website.
Unfortunately, the coop is just not working out this winter. It's too small. We have are having bitterly cold temps in the below 0 range. The birds are not coming out to the water below and because of our design flaws, I'm finding it difficult to get a waterer into the coop without spilling it--very bad I know!!!
I'm thinking I should move the meat birds in with the laying birds. What will happen to the pecking order? The laying birds are very fearful of Big Red. They run away from him when he comes around.
Thoughts?
We also kept 4 Freedom Rangers from our meat bird flock to breed next spring. We have a magnificent roo and 3 hens. The meat birds are in a small coop we made this summer based on the kids playhouse coop design found on this website.
Unfortunately, the coop is just not working out this winter. It's too small. We have are having bitterly cold temps in the below 0 range. The birds are not coming out to the water below and because of our design flaws, I'm finding it difficult to get a waterer into the coop without spilling it--very bad I know!!!
I'm thinking I should move the meat birds in with the laying birds. What will happen to the pecking order? The laying birds are very fearful of Big Red. They run away from him when he comes around.
Thoughts?