BonnieBlue
Songster
It looks like realizing my dream of moving back to a rural area is finally happening early summer! We are planning the space for my chicken math coop and run, and I want to plan for the future.
The site has a barn on it that is 80ft long. We are planning to add an overhang to the barn that is 16'x80'. That will be fenced in on the edges for the run, and the coop will be partially inside the run. (Site layout, slopes,water runoff, etc make that the best placement for a coop.)
So here is my question, because I have never had a rooster, and my father only had hens, no roosters, so know nothing about them. I would like to build the set up initially for adding a rooster later on. I want to add a fenced divider in the run, and in the small run, put the coop I have now (4x4) in that section for a rooster or two if I want to add roosters to a flock, but only letting them with the hens when I actually want chicks,not all the time. A bachelor pad of sorts. But is just a fence divider enough? Or do they need to be in a completely different area where they can't see the hens? I know nothing about rooster behavior, so guidance is needed. I have a drawing so hopefully my thoughts make more sense with a visual.
I would like to keep them separate, because I do have friends with roosters, and a couple of them have problems with their roosters basically terrorizing their favorite hens trying to breed with them all the time to the point of being aggressive. I would rather not have that, and just keep them seperate except when chicks are wanted.
The site has a barn on it that is 80ft long. We are planning to add an overhang to the barn that is 16'x80'. That will be fenced in on the edges for the run, and the coop will be partially inside the run. (Site layout, slopes,water runoff, etc make that the best placement for a coop.)
So here is my question, because I have never had a rooster, and my father only had hens, no roosters, so know nothing about them. I would like to build the set up initially for adding a rooster later on. I want to add a fenced divider in the run, and in the small run, put the coop I have now (4x4) in that section for a rooster or two if I want to add roosters to a flock, but only letting them with the hens when I actually want chicks,not all the time. A bachelor pad of sorts. But is just a fence divider enough? Or do they need to be in a completely different area where they can't see the hens? I know nothing about rooster behavior, so guidance is needed. I have a drawing so hopefully my thoughts make more sense with a visual.
I would like to keep them separate, because I do have friends with roosters, and a couple of them have problems with their roosters basically terrorizing their favorite hens trying to breed with them all the time to the point of being aggressive. I would rather not have that, and just keep them seperate except when chicks are wanted.
