newbie Question

Date sort Score sort
Hey! We are new to chickens also. We currently have 8 (hopefully hens). 1 Silkie, 2 Easter Eggers, 2 Barred Rocks, 1 Lavender Orpington, 1 Brown Lehgorn, and 1 Black Sexlink. They all get along great, even the silkie! We got the Orpington, 1 Easter Egger and the Silkie at the same time from the same breeder (along with 4 others that turned out to be rooster, so we had to return them), they had been together since hatching. They are currently 7 weeks old. When they were 2.5 weeks we added the others, who were 6 days old at the time. The integration was seamless. They others all came from the same location also. The older Easter Egger and Orpington keep the Silkie warm, and allow it to hide under their feathers. From what I understand this isn't always the case with having a breed such as a Silkie with these others, but perhaps since they were together from Day 1, we haven't had any issues at all. Good luck! I love having a variety.
 
MedSchlFarmers said:
Hey! We are new to chickens also. We currently have 8 (hopefully hens). 1 Silkie, 2 Easter Eggers, 2 Barred Rocks, 1 Lavender Orpington, 1 Brown Lehgorn, and 1 Black Sexlink. They all get along great, even the silkie! We got the Orpington, 1 Easter Egger and the Silkie at the same time from the same breeder (along with 4 others that turned out to be rooster, so we had to return them), they had been together since hatching. They are currently 7 weeks old. When they were 2.5 weeks we added the others, who were 6 days old at the time. The integration was seamless. They others all came from the same location also. The older Easter Egger and Orpington keep the Silkie warm, and allow it to hide under their feathers. From what I understand this isn't always the case with having a breed such as a Silkie with these others, but perhaps since they were together from Day 1, we haven't had any issues at all. Good luck! I love having a variety.   
Click to expand...
That is,quite a collection.
 
You could get multiple breeds but if you only got a feww breeds and more of those breed of chicken, it would be easier to find and stop problems that may come such as diseases.
 
As long as you get them young, mixing breeds isn't normally a problem. If you have a hen that goes broody, you can even put a couple day old chicks under her and, regardless of what breed they are, more often than not she'll raise them as her own! The biggest issue is when you try to add a grown chicken to a pre-existing flock. It's a lot like most animals where, if you try to introduce a new animal to the mix, they don't always accept it...or take a while to be okay around each other!

My first flock I started out with a day old Sussex, Wyandotte, Polish, and Belgian d'Anver. All of them got along just fine!

Sex Links lay a high amount of large brown eggs. They're typically sweet, docile, and are cold and heat hardy.
Australorps lay a high amount of large light brown eggs. They're typically calm, friendly, hardy, are okay to free range, and are cold and heat hardy.
Plymouth Rocks lay a high amount of large brown eggs. They're typically gentle, hardy, are okay to free range, and are cold and heat hardy.
Speckled Sussex lay a high amount of large light brown eggs. They're typically friendly, are okay to forage, and are cold hardy.
Welsummers lay a medium amount of large dark brown eggs. They're typically active, friendly, are okay to forage/free range, occasionally go broody, and are heat hardy.
Wyandottes lay a high amount of large light brown eggs. They're typically easy-going, okay to forage, and are cold hardy.

All of the chickens that you're looking at are production or dual purpose birds, so you can't really go wrong there! I had a great experience with my Sussex and Wyandotte. Although Wyandottes don't always do well in confined spaces, so something that you might want to consider is how much room they'll have and whether foraging during the day is possible. In a lot of places there are too many predators to have a small flock outside of an enclosed run.

Good luck!
 
Gnarled Carrots said:
As long as you get them young, mixing breeds isn't normally a problem. If you have a hen that goes broody, you can even put a couple day old chicks under her and, regardless of what breed they are, more often than not she'll raise them as her own! The biggest issue is when you try to add a grown chicken to a pre-existing flock. It's a lot like most animals where, if you try to introduce a new animal to the mix, they don't always accept it...or take a while to be okay around each other!

My first flock I started out with a day old Sussex, Wyandotte, Polish, and Belgian d'Anver. All of them got along just fine!

[COLOR=333333]Sex Links lay a high amount of large brown eggs. They're typically sweet, docile, and are cold and heat hardy.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]Australorps lay a high amount of large light brown eggs. They're typically calm, friendly, hardy, are okay to free range, and are cold and heat hardy.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]Plymouth Rocks lay a high amount of large brown eggs. They're typically gentle, hardy, are okay to free range, and are cold and heat hardy. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]Speckled Sussex lay a high amount of large light brown eggs. They're typically friendly, are okay to forage, and are cold hardy.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]Welsummers lay a medium amount of large dark brown eggs. They're typically active, friendly, are okay to forage/free range, occasionally go broody, and are heat hardy.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=333333]Wyandottes lay a high amount of large light brown eggs. They're typically easy-going, okay to forage, and are cold hardy.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]All of the chickens that you're looking at are production or dual purpose birds, so you can't really go wrong there! I had a great experience with my Sussex and Wyandotte. Although Wyandottes don't always do well in confined spaces, so something that you might want to consider is how much room they'll have and whether foraging during the day is possible. In a lot of places there are too many predators to have a small flock outside of an enclosed run.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=333333]Good luck![/COLOR]
Click to expand...
Thanks Gnarled the only pairs of birds am set on for sure are the speckled sussex and the Barred rocks...
 
Mixing breeds shouldnt be a problem but......problems CAN occur with two different breeds that look alike say the new hemisphere red,and the rhode island red.
 
Hello!
400

Welcome to BYC and the coop! There's a lot of great peeps here! Feel free to ask lots of questions. But most of all, make yourself at home. I'm so glad you decided to join the BYC family. I look forward to seeing you around BYC.
 
Thank you for the warm welcomes everyone.....I have my first flock coming around March 16the it consists of 2 barred rocks.....2 Speckled sussex...1 australorp......and 1 silver laced wyandotte
The wyandotte is to keep the peace with my girlfriend....lol.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom