Adding new breeds to existing flock—suggestions!

[MallardBay]

Good afternoon! I’m looking for some feedback on a couple new breeds to add to my flock. What I have now are all 6 months-ish birds who will be about 9 months when we welcome new ones:

1 Silkie Rooster
1 Silkie Hen
1 Buff Orpington Hen
1 Leghorn Hen
4 Black Australorp Hens

We will be expanding our run but not our coop—though it is fairly large and can accommodate 3-4 more birds easily.

I am looking for breeds that are 1) not great fliers, 2) pretty calm and docile or friendly, 3) like to forage but will not be totally free-range, 4) medium size (the Bielefelder seems too large?) and 5) have an interesting egg and/or plumage. I’d prefer non-broody because we aren’t hatching our own eggs, but I’m fine with dealing with that if it’s a broody breed and great otherwise. We are located in NC, so temperature isn’t a huge issue one way or the other.

I have read that you don’t want to introduce one of one kind of breed to a new flock or they’ll be pegged as an outsider—any advice there? I’m happy to get two breeds in pairs, just want to know what the best way to do it is.

Thanks!

 

[Cattle dog Mom]

So I take it you want breeds that are smaller than Australorps and Orpingtons?

 

[Allthefloofs]

How exciting to be adding new birds! I don't tend to add two of the same types, but more like two birds of any breed at a time. The only time I have had trouble is adding a polish to a flock of birds that wasn't raised with one. I easily rolled that polish into a flock that had grown up with them. Skittles easily integrated as a single bird in two days, which was a really big surprise.
Are you getting chicks or started pullets? If chicks, just wait until they are big enough, then set up a see, but not touch sort of situation. There are lots of people with great info on how to integrate flock members. The way we have always done it is to raise them until about 10-14 weeks inside with field trips out after a few weeks so the big girls see them then we have an acclimation run set up that shares a small amount of fence and a pet door so they have a few weeks of see, but no touch. After a couple of weeks of that they get to free range together and get the pecking order stuff worked out and then I open the pet door a couple of weeks after that and they can mingle freely in the runs. We have added three times in the past three years and it's worked out well for us.

Maybe some easter Eggers? What about Salmon Favrolles? Speckled Sussex?

 

[MallardBay]

How exciting to be adding new birds! I don't tend to add two of the same types, but more like two birds of any breed at a time. The only time I have had trouble is adding a polish to a flock of birds that wasn't raised with one. I easily rolled that polish into a flock that had grown up with them. Skittles easily integrated as a single bird in two days, which was a really big surprise.
Are you getting chicks or started pullets? If chicks, just wait until they are big enough, then set up a see, but not touch sort of situation. There are lots of people with great info on how to integrate flock members. The way we have always done it is to raise them until about 10-14 weeks inside with field trips out after a few weeks so the big girls see them then we have an acclimation run set up that shares a small amount of fence and a pet door so they have a few weeks of see, but no touch. After a couple of weeks of that they get to free range together and get the pecking order stuff worked out and then I open the pet door a couple of weeks after that and they can mingle freely in the runs. We have added three times in the past three years and it's worked out well for us.

Maybe some easter Eggers? What about Salmon Favrolles? Speckled Sussex?

Thank you! We should be able to easily portion off part of the run and keep them in their brooder for 10 weeks.
I’ll look into those suggestions—I didn’t realize there were so many choices!

 

[Crazy Fun Chicken Lady]

I have 50 chickens and 24 different breeds and different colors of each breed. Never add just one new chicken. You have to add multiple chickens at the same time. The more the better. I have multiples of everyone on your list.

 

[MallardBay]

I have 50 chickens and 24 different breeds and different colors of each breed. Never add just one new chicken. You have to add multiple chickens at the same time. The more the better. I have multiples of everyone on your list.

Is 3-4 too little to add at a time to a flock of 8?

 

[MallardBay]

So I take it you want breeds that are smaller than Australorps and Orpingtons?

Not necessarily—I was just looking into Bielefelders and they were markedly bigger. The Australorps are probably the biggest size I’d want, but they are totally fine.

 

[Anne02]

Easter Eggers! You never quite know what their going to look like, they lay cool eggs and are friendly.

 

[aart]

We will be expanding our run but not our coop—though it is fairly large and can accommodate 3-4 more birds easily.

How big is that in feet by feet?
Dimensions and pics would help.

I would strongly suggest you partition off part of your coop and run and brood the chicks in the coop for early integration. It's SOOO much easier.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

Oh and, breeds don't matter much, any new bird is going to be looked upon as an invader. Chicks are easier to integrate because they are not as much of a threat and they are small and fast moving targets.

Still keep in mind some.....
Integration Basics:
It's all about territory and resources(space/food/water).
Existing birds will almost always attack new ones to defend their resources.
Understanding chicken behaviors is essential to integrating new birds into your flock.

Confine new birds within sight but physically segregated from older/existing birds for several weeks, so they can see and get used to each other but not physically interact.

In adjacent runs, spread scratch grains along the dividing mesh, best if mesh is just big enough for birds to stick their head thru, so they get used to eating together.

The more space, the better. Birds will peck to establish dominance, the pecked bird needs space to get away. As long as there's no copious blood drawn and/or new bird is not trapped/pinned down and beaten unmercilessly, let them work it out. Every time you interfere or remove new birds, they'll have to start the pecking order thing all over again.

Multiple feed/water stations. Dominance issues are most often carried out over sustenance, more stations lessens the frequency of that issue.

Places for the new birds to hide 'out of line of sight'(but not a dead end trap) and/or up and away from any bully birds. Roosts, pallets or boards leaned up against walls or up on concrete blocks, old chairs tables, branches, logs, stumps out in the run can really help. Lots of diversion and places to 'hide' instead of bare wide open run.
Good ideas for hiding places:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/a-cluttered-run.1323792/

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm probably not doing you any favors by posting these links because this doesn't even come close to showing what all your options are. This is the best summary of breeds I'm aware of. It can become addicting but you can look through Henderson's Breed Chart to see about characteristics and then go to Feathersite to see what they look like.

Henderson’s Breed Chart

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Feathersite

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html#Chickens

Where do you plan to get the birds? Where you plan to get them could impact which are available to you. Many hatcheries have developed their own chickens that are not recognized breeds but may suit your criteria pretty well. Unfortunately your choices can be really intimidating, but your source may help you narrow it down. Don't let the pursuit of perfection blind you to perfectly good enough. It's not that there are a lot of bad choices out there if you stick to your criteria. Most people are very happy with whatever they choose. There are a lot of good choices.

It sounds like you may be thinking of baby chicks, not older ones? And it sounds like you are looking at adding four more. It can be really challenging to get a hatchery to ship that small a number of chicks. They tend to have minimum numbers so their body heat can keep each other warm while being shipped. Many feed stores have a minimum of six chicks. Sometimes with baby chicks you don't get all girls.

There are ways around a lot of these things. I don't know if North Carolina has an active chat thread in the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum but finding a way to chat with your neighbors can be very helpful. They have local knowledge, may have the chickens you want, or may be willing to split an order to get around minimums.

We will be expanding our run but not our coop—though it is fairly large and can accommodate 3-4 more birds easily.

This makes me nervous. I don't know what you are basing this on. I've seen "magic numbers" given for how many square feet per bird you need in a coop all the way from 1 square feet to 15 per bird. I've seen some pretty wild stuff about runs too. You can follow the link in my signature to get some of my thoughts about space requirements. One point is that integration typically takes more room than they need after they are integrated. Immature juveniles with the flock also require more room. Size of coop and run in feet and photos might be helpful.

I have read that you don’t want to introduce one of one kind of breed to a new flock or they’ll be pegged as an outsider—any advice there?

We can have different opinions on this. I don't worry about this but think their age and how you introduce them is much more important.