Dude, why don't you just get dual purpose birds instead of separate meat and laying hens. Pioneer chickens were originally intended as meat birds, but mine lays 6 large eggs a week with an occasional double yolk egg. And she's a big girl, too. She also brooded and sat one clutch and was a fine mama. Standard Cochins are another good dual purpose bird. One large coop, eggs and meat all in one.We're down to only 6 laying hens at this time. We started out with 14 that we let free range, but over the last 2 years the predators killed one every of months. Now we only let them out of their enclosed run when we're outside too. When we get moved (our finial move) out to our BOL I'll build a large coop that will have meat chickens on one side and laying hens on the other. The run will be about 50' x 100' with netting over the top to keep the flying predators out.