Looking at your run, this is what I would do. I would add a large piece of cardboard to one side of that silver ladder - platform thingy. I would put that in the middle of the run. Then I would add some roosts from the top of that out to the side of the run. I would put the two feed stations...
Could you post a picture of your set up. If I wanted two more birds, was confident where these birds came from, I would take them and expect it to work.
Quarantine is a good practice, but nearly impossible to handle in a true backyard set up, and if you don't do it properly - you may as well...
At this age it is a crapshoot. There is a good chance that neither rooster will work out. I agree that pulling the rooster is apt to change the other cockerel, but the pullets will be calmer. You might need to separate the one you keep till the pullets are laying. It is slwsys good to have that...
Just sit with them without moving just watching them. That is what most like best. They are prey animals so reaching them, catching them causes stress. Don’t do it. At the end of your setting, just toss a bit of scratch and leave. After a few times you can toss the scratch well away from you but...
Do keep him penned or your kids separated from him, I would expect this to get much worse while you take the time to look. Roosters have ruined the whole chicken experience for a lot of kids.
Ridge runner is right is saying it might work, might not. Do be sure and check near dark.
However, I do worry about the potential to over heat birds in July locked in a new to you coop. Granted it is a bigger coop, and not a lot of birds.
This should work fairly well, strange to both groups, almost equal numbers. Be aware, be able to separate.
But you might consider getting all the birds from one place.
It is a great plan, but you don’t need to lock them up for a week if the coop is attached to the run. Birds should return to the last place they roosted.
While I have seen this advice several times, it is really only important in coops with out runs. Then you might need to do this.
With a 3 year old daughter who has already taken an attack in the face, I would cancel the straight run order. If you need more hens, order sex linked pullets. Raise them up a year, and then look for a rooster. Roosters are easy to come by.
If your child and the chickens share the yard, I would...
Strike one is how I would look at it. IMO, you are leaving the darling stage of cockerels, and you have too many cockerels for your flock.
I would expect his behavior to become more aggressive, he might not, but I would expect it. Don’t make excuses for him, judge him on his behavior, not...
Block off the under the steps, or put something in there that destroys that nest.
One would think they would find a good place and stick to it - nada. I finally caved, as I have ground nests in the coop. I finally created a nice nest in a box that I could easily reach, and they were laying well...
Or you could do nothing... it is highly stressful on a bird to manhandle them down to give them the tums.
It is very very common to have some misfiring when pullets start laying. Sometimes you get shell less eggs, a lot of the time you don't. When I first started, I rushed in. Then a respected...
When people first start with chickens they expect perfect eggs like one gets in the store. It is not that commercial layers never lay an imperfect egg - it is just that the ones we buy are sorted.
I don't think you are going to cure this, I think this is the way she is. Laying is much more...
A lot of people have wide open runs, and there is a huge advantage to adding clutter. While that open space looks like maximum space it is not. It makes no use of the vertical space. Every chicken can see every other chicken 100% of the time.
Add pallets up on blocks, so chickens can get under...
Do know, that not all bachelor pads work over the long time. Some do, some don't. That is how cockerels and roosters are. Today's behavior is no indication what tomorrow's behavior will be. Being raised together has little to no influence on future behavior.
Mrs K