Adding a couple "fancy" breeds to existing flock

[Twinklin]

I recently got 4 chickens, they're about 2 1/2 months now. We have made our coop and run large enough to accommodate at least 6 chickens. Right now we have 4 standards of different breeds RIR, EE, Welsummer and Black Sex Link. I would love to get a couple of the fancier breeds like silkies, polish, frizzle etc. or a couple bantams of other breeds. I'm not concerned with the added chickens laying abilities as having 4 good layers is plenty for the 2 of us. I have a few questions about adding more chickens. Is it best to do it now while the ones we have are young or would waiting until they are a year+ not matter? Are there breeds that typically do not get along? Are there other things I should be concerned with? I read a little bit about how smaller breeds like silkies and bantam chickens will sometimes get killed by the standard chickens. Since I only have 4 would that be a problem or is it usually large groups that do that type of damage?

 

[megan80568]

My silkies are much larger then I imagined. My smallest black one is like best friends with my barred rock rooster. So I feel it depends on the individuals.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

You could have problems or things could go smoothly, it just depends on how mellow your flock is.

I was never able to mix my bantams and standards without some kind of never ending drama. So, when I had LF, I kept them separate.

You could get just get a LF Polish or Cochin, both of which come frizzled. If you go that route you wont have to worry about size as much.

 

[Kelsie2290]

This is in my experience, so ymmv...
Make sure you actually have enough coop/run space for 6 birds, especially if some of the birds are a little "special" a lot of the coops you see are too small for the numbers they recommend.
The younger they are the easier it is to integrate more birds, so if you want to get more, the sooner the better.
I assume you are looking for more hens, not a rooster, generally you can integrate a bantam or special rooster with standard hens with no problem, but more hens can be iffy.
It does depend on your individual birds and their temperaments... of the breeds you have I would worry most about the RIR, ime, they are usually the dominant bird and they are not benevolent dictators. Depending on the birds you have you may have to select additions based on how they will probably get along with one or more of your existing birds... so look at your girls and try to figure out who the trouble maker is, and who her best friend is, and look for a breed that has a temperament similar to those your dominant bird gets along with best.
Frizzle is actually a feather type, so if you get something frizzled similar to what you already have, that is probably your best bet on a drama free addition.
I'd be worried about head-feather plucking with polish or any type of bird with a lot of head feathering when in a coop or enclosed run situation with other birds, it is pretty much inevitable. It does not seem to be as much of a problem when they pretty much free range.
Silkies have a lot of size variation so if you go with a larger one they may be OK, but the girls seem to be fairly submissive and that may be a problem with the standard hens you already have.
Cochins are generally really big birds and I have not had much problem with them and other breeds, they do have a lot of foot feathering which is a nuisance if you have a lot of wet weather or mud (Silkies are the same but not as bad).
Bantams and Standards generally wind up with the bantams being picked on ... though I have had some that got along well with standards and hung out with them, they all tended to be bantams that were pretty dominant girls.
You might also consider a standard breed with more of a fancy feather color, ie Speckled Sussex etc.

 

[Twinklin]

thanks so much everyone for your insight.

My coop is a converted large resin shed which is about 8ft x 5 1/2ft and 6 1/2ft tall. The run is a little over 8ft x 8ft. So the coop is plenty big for several more birds but I'd like to stick with 10ft per bird for the run so I will be limiting us to 6 birds. I do only want hens. We live outside Phoenix AZ so we don't have much rain for muddy conditions. The girls we have now are doing great in the heat, I work from home so I'm able to check on them a lot. We have lots of shade and a mister to keep them cool. The run floor will be sand once the girls finish eating all the grass that is currently there which shouldn't be long from now.

So far all my girls are very timid, I've seen no fighting, picking on, pecking, or any of that. They have personalities but it's more like who is the bravest and who is the scardy cat instead of who is the boss. They all seem to do their own thing and when they do pair up they mix and match, I don't always find the same 2 together. I observe them a lot every day and hopefully I'll be able to figure out the pecking order.

They get about an hour a day to free range while I'm gardening and stuff but for the most part they're in the run until about 7-8pm when they put themselves to sleep and I go out a bit after that and lock them up for the night, then I let them back out around 8am.

I think I may get a silkie since the word seems to be that they are usually larger than other bantams, and for the second new bird some other type of standard breed but with fancy feathers. I'll have to do more research.

I think I'll lean towards a white bird and a grey or blue to add some versatility, we have the Welly, RIR and EE and all are similar shades of reddish brown so we could use more of a rainbow.

Thank you all again. Any other info, opinion, or input is welcome.