Curious about adding pullets to an established flock

[Gaettberry]

I added 6 new pullets to my established flock of 8, after letting them free range for about a week together. The pullets are about 12 weeks old and everyone else is 5-7 months. I have 3 laying currently, one has recently stopped almost the day after I put them in the coop together. Is adding the new chickens enough to make the new laying hen just abruptly stop? If so how long until I should expect to see her laying again?
I recently made an addition to my 8x10 coop and added an attached run that is roughly 7x10x5. Making the whole coop 15x10. Is this sufficient enough, and enough space for everyone to harmonize and mix? Thanks in advanced!

 

[ChickenScratchFeathers]

They might stop temporarily laying, because gaining new flock mates can be sometimes stressful for all involved! Once they all get settled in, and everyone gets used to each other, and the pecking order is established, the laying should resume. Chickens are creatures of habit, so it can take them a little to adjust to new changes, even if a positive change such as getting a larger coop and such!
As for your space question, I don't think I can provide a good answer. But to me, that sounds good, can you add in some roosts in the run? I put roost bars in my run, so that my ladies can chill on the bars, it can make a smaller space more used, by giving more areas to interact with! ^^
Good luck with everything!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Chickens can stop laying due to any number of stressors and yes the addition of newcomers would count as a possible source of stress. It may take a stressed bird a couple of weeks to resume laying under normal circumstances.

The coop (usually an enclosed structure meant for roosting and nesting in) by itself is 15x10? Or is that coop + run? It sounds like latter however you called it the coop, so I'm trying to get clarification, because a 70 sq ft run is very tight for 14 birds, but I think there's some confusion with the labeling of your setup. Otherwise a 150 sq ft coop is absolutely massive for 14 birds.

You mentioned free ranging, how often or how long do you do that, as that can make up for tight run space.

You also don't mention what your location is or what your climate is like, which can impact how much space is needed.

 

[Gaettberry]

Chickens can stop laying due to any number of stressors and yes the addition of newcomers would count as a possible source of stress. It may take a stressed bird a couple of weeks to resume laying under normal circumstances.

The coop (usually an enclosed structure meant for roosting and nesting in) by itself is 15x10? Or is that coop + run? It sounds like latter however you called it the coop, so I'm trying to get clarification, because a 70 sq ft run is very tight for 14 birds, but I think there's some confusion with the labeling of your setup. Otherwise a 150 sq ft coop is absolutely massive for 14 birds.

You mentioned free ranging, how often or how long do you do that, as that can make up for tight run space.

You also don't mention what your location is or what your climate is like, which can impact how much space is needed.

Here is a photo of my coop, it’s an open designed coop(I didn’t know much about chickens prior to building) sorry about the confusion.

My birds free range all days everyday on the weekend through the weekday they spend a considerable amount of time in their coop only getting out around 4 and going back in an hour later.

Im located in Missouri the summers are aroun 85-100° and the winters don’t usually drop below 10°

 

[rosemarythyme]

Here is a photo of my coop, it’s an open designed coop(I didn’t know much about chickens prior to building) sorry about the confusion.

My birds free range all days everyday on the weekend through the weekday they spend a considerable amount of time in their coop only getting out around 4 and going back in an hour later.

Im located in Missouri the summers are aroun 85-100° and the winters don’t usually drop below 10°

Thank you, that helps a lot. So since it's combined space you might have enough room for 14, or it might be on the tight side as you can't free range majority of the time. You won't know for sure if it's enough space until behavioral or health issues pop up, but of course no one wants to see that.

Any possibility of expansion (maybe not now with winter coming, but in spring)? I'd consider doubling the size of the original space so you have the option of adding clutter, as the newly added runs are smallish/narrow since they're segmented which can cause some pecking order issues as low ranked birds might struggle to get by higher ranked birds without being attacked.

 

[Gaettberry]

Thank you, that helps a lot. So since it's combined space you might have enough room for 14, or it might be on the tight side as you can't free range majority of the time. You won't know for sure if it's enough space until behavioral or health issues pop up, but of course no one wants to see that.

Any possibility of expansion (maybe not now with winter coming, but in spring)? I'd consider doubling the size of the original space so you have the option of adding clutter, as the newly added runs are smallish/narrow since they're segmented which can cause some pecking order issues as low ranked birds might struggle to get by higher ranked birds without being attacked.

I actually monitor them very closely as I have camera in their coop and run.

I plan on doing another run on the other side about the same size so everyone can be in their own space if need be I agree I see the issue with the side by side run. As my 12 week old chickens get picked on when walking by the higher and older hens.

Im actually only renting the place im currently at so I don’t want to make the coop too heavy to move. My landlord let me do what I have done so far but I’m worried if I keep adding on then it might be tough to get it all out in one piece.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I actually monitor them very closely as I have camera in their coop and run.

I plan on doing another run on the other side about the same size so everyone can be in their own space if need be I agree I see the issue with the side by side run. As my 12 week old chickens get picked on when walking by the higher and older hens.

Im actually only renting the place im currently at so I don’t want to make the coop too heavy to move. My landlord let me do what I have done so far but I’m worried if I keep adding on then it might be tough to get it all out in one piece.

Gotcha, that does put in some limitations.

I don't know what your predator load looks like but you might consider a larger netted run for weekday use? Electric netting might not be an option but some folks use non-electrified netting and stakes to make a bigger run area, but that depends on the level of risk with predators out there.

 

[Gaettberry]

Gotcha, that does put in some limitations.

I don't know what your predator load looks like but you might consider a larger netted run for weekday use? Electric netting might not be an option but some folks use non-electrified netting and stakes to make a bigger run area, but that depends on the level of risk with predators out there.

As far I know there are little to no predators, I’ve had them in this coop now for about 6 months and haven’t lost one to a predator.(knock on wood)

I might end up getting a cheaper metal enclosure and attaching it to the other side of the coop and leaving room for them to come in. I found some on Amazon for 100$ and it looks to be about the same size as my original coop.

Any thoughts?

 

[Bawkbok]

I would encourage you to read the reviews on this product. There are issues with the welding and it is not the best quality hardware cloth, in addition to part of being chicken wire, which is not the greatest at keeping predators out. You will also need to stabilize it as some reviews indicated it blew away and bent before they could stake it down properly. Others have used concrete blocks to secure it in place.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I might end up getting a cheaper metal enclosure and attaching it to the other side of the coop and leaving room for them to come in. I found some on Amazon for 100$ and it looks to be about the same size as my original coop.

Any thoughts?

Something like that should work fine as long as the predator load is low (and depending on type of predator of course) AND as long as snow load isn't an issue. A heavy snow can easily collapse one of these structures since there isn't enough roof support.