chicken questions

[harriman]

I'm a newbie chicken owner of 5 chickens (10 weeks old - I've had them since day old chicks). I THINK 2 of them may be roosters -mainly because they fight each other, have bigger combs and are heavier body weight, although they are a different breed to the others so it may just be breed type?)
IF I remove the roosters, can I mix one or two point of lay pullets in with the younger ones - or will the older ones pick on the younger ones?
Finally, they are in a covered run 6' by 4' with a hen house that is 4' by 2.5'. Is 5 too many for this space? I shall not be letting them have free roam as there are numerous foxes that are seen in the daytime as well as dawn/dusk

[meltoadhall]

the only way that could tell that i had hatched out 3 boys when when they started to crow.
yes you can mix new and old birds, but give them time to get used to each other slowly, maybe for an hour or so a day, you may want to wait until the chicks are a bit bigger.
the space should be ok

[feebee102]

Totally agree with the first post.We bought 12(supposed) point of lay hens from a poultry market a few years ago.It was only 4 weeks later when they all started to crow did we realise they where all cockerels.
The size of the pen and house is ok for the amount of chickens you wish to put in there.
And as said before introduce younger hens when they are a bit older gradually as they will get bullied,hence the term pecking order.
It always looks quite barbaric when you introduce new hens as the older ones will pick on them,but this soon passes with no ill effect.

[Illyria54]

Please also sink in about 12" of chicken wire all the way around the run, foxes will and do dig under a chicken run, I know from bitter experience! we lost all of our chickens 11 hens an 1 cockerel within 10 short minutes, we live on a farm, I walked past the chicken house/run up to the farm to talk to hubby about something, walked back again 10 minutes later and all the hens were dead and the cockerel had to be pts, so please be careful.