Different Breeds

mamacara

Hatching
Jun 29, 2015
6
0
7
Vancouver Island
Hello, my name is Cara and I'm a newby to BYC, my DH and I just finished building our coop yesterday, just have to add a run and we are all set to go chickin pickin :) Unfortunately though, he's not the chicken lovin type, and wants to raise meat birds, which I'm told are quite large. My son's and I however, also want some chickens to love as pets, and hopefully egg producers, we love Silkies and a breed im told is called Belgian d'Uccle Mille Fleur... Which are both quite small breeds. So, can these breeds live with meat birds or will they get beat up?
 
How big is your coop? Large, dual purpose chickens need a lot more room than bantam breeds. A bantam will only need about 2 square feet of coop space and about 8 sq ft of run per bird. A large breed needs at least 5 sq ft in the coop and 12 sq ft in the run per bird.
 
I have belgian bantams and they are small but do well with friendly standard birds. While d'uccles are pocket pets they are not great layers and they go broody often.
I personally would not raise meat hybrids. So maybe you try calm dual purpose breed like wyandotts to make your husband happy. They are beautiful, good layers and table birds and they come in bantam and standard and make great pets.
Men are often not that happy with chickens in the beginning but when they are hooked they are the once that ran to every bird show and farm fair, so maybe you make a compromise first and than switch to more ornamental breeds...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/wyandotte
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

As long as they are raised together from the beginning and have plenty of room, they will get along just fine. The silkies might get bullied a little more because of the difference in their feathers. But, again, if they are together from the start, it won't be too bad.

I agree with @Bine though. Dual purpose chickens are a lot better than hybrids. They are great layers, good for meat purposes, make great pets and are hardy in most climates. Dual purpose breeds include buff orpingtons, black australorps, wyandottes, rhode island reds, sex links, easter eggers, barred rocks and sussex. All of these breeds are well worth it in my opinion.
 
Welcome to the flock. Usually after the indifferent spouse is exposed to chickens, especially young chicks, they tend to come over to the chicken side. I hope that will happen to your husband as well. Maybe you could have HIS and HERS coops and flocks. I bet if he is the sole caretaker for meat birds, he won't think it is such a good idea. Always seems like one person ends up with all the work and you would probably be stuck doing both.
 
Thanks for all the great replies everyone. I think I'm going to do the his and hers coops. Sounds like a much easier idea for me and the kids to have out own pet birds, and DH can do his own work for his meat birds! :)
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom