I have just started my little chicken family. I started with 1 young laying hen (I don't know how old she is, but she had just started laying in the spring), a rooster, and two other hens who were to start laying in the fall. I lost one of them this week to the heat. I enjoyed my little chicken family so much that I went and got 6 more pullets. I kept them separate for several weeks until they got their feathers. I slowly started letting them get used to each other. I now have them all together in a 10x10 covered coop that I just built. I will be attaching the original coop from the original chicken family to the new coop as well. I will add pictures after I get it completed.