A good chicken breed?

[HoopyFrood]

We have an australorp as well as two RIRs and two barred rocks. We love the australorp to pieces, she's as sweet as sweet can be. Super calm demeanor. But she is also on the bottom of the pecking order because of her demure character. She doesn't

The barred rocks are hilarious. Vivacious personalities. I can't imagine not having them BUT they are very assertive even though they are (usually) very nice. They are the top of the pecking order. The RIR are a lot more assertive and vocal than the australorp, but the barred rocks rule the roost. Usually benevolently, but they do have squabbles from time to time.

If you introduce chickens with more amped-up personalities than your australorps, the group dynamics of the australorps will likely change significantly. You'll have to decide what kind of change you might want to see.

We're considering getting three more australorps next year.... the four of them collectively might be able to exhibit the same amount of assertiveness as one of the RIRs or barred rocks

 

[User395221]

We have an australorp as well as two RIRs and two barred rocks. We love the australorp to pieces, she's as sweet as sweet can be. Super calm demeanor. But she is also on the bottom of the pecking order because of her demure character.

This is where it gets interesting, because each girl is an individual. I have 2 black australorp crosses at the moment. One is more outgoing than the other. When I got the second house (because the isa browns were being mean), I thought Grace could go in there with the 'big girls', but she was "too chicken" (!) and wouldn't even come out to roam with the other girls. She wanted to stay in with the "little girls". Of course, that could be influenced by her cross-breeding, but Raven is also not a pure breed.