Are Chickens Ever Ostracized for Being Different?

[BonnieBlue]

I would like to get a Cream Legbar. But I only want one in my mixed flock which (once the new ones get integrated) will be 3 New Hampshires, 2 EE's, 2 OE's, and 1 Welbar. I will probably get two White Leghorns at the same time as a Cream Legbar to broody 3 together.

If I only have one crested chicken, will she be picked on or ostracized by the others for being different? My partner was asking me if I should get two of them so she will have another with a crest, even tho I only wanted one.

Any thoughts? I would like to go to the feed store and ask if they can put one on their spring order from Ideal, since Ideal will mark and ship a special order chick with the feed store's regular order.

 

[kattabelly]

You can never say for certain what any chicken will do but I'd expect this to be less likely to be an issue with the relatively small CCL usually have, compared to other breeds like Polish which have much bigger crests.

Do you already have the EE & OE? Some of those can be crested depending on which breeds went into making them.

 

[Evadig]

I had one Cream Legbar in a mixed flock and she was bullied, not because of her crest but her skittish personality.

If your New Hampshires are anything like my Welsummer (I have heard NH can be bossy), then the Cream Legbar (and maybe even the Leghorns) will have a very hard time of it.

This is just my experience; yours may get along just fine! Hope this helps .

 

[Hartwood Hollow Farm]

Yes they are ostracized for being different …I ostracize my chickens for not being ostriches all the time…oh wait…you mean by other chickens…uh….don't know…

 

[Appalachickens]

I would like to get a Cream Legbar. But I only want one in my mixed flock which (once the new ones get integrated) will be 3 New Hampshires, 2 EE's, 2 OE's, and 1 Welbar. I will probably get two White Leghorns at the same time as a Cream Legbar to broody 3 together.

If I only have one crested chicken, will she be picked on or ostracized by the others for being different? My partner was asking me if I should get two of them so she will have another with a crest, even tho I only wanted one.

Any thoughts? I would like to go to the feed store and ask if they can put one on their spring order from Ideal, since Ideal will mark and ship a special order chick with the feed store's regular order.

I have only one cream legbar and she gets along fine with the others. No one seems to notice her bouffant. There is also no issue with the Wyandotte who has a bad crossbeak. My flock of 13 has 13 different breeds and they are all happy with each other as far as I can tell.

 

[BonnieBlue]

You can never say for certain what any chicken will do but I'd expect this to be less likely to be an issue with the relatively small CCL usually have, compared to other breeds like Polish which have much bigger crests.

Do you already have the EE & OE? Some of those can be crested depending on which breeds went into making them.

My two EE's do not have crests. They are just over 2 years old. The 2 OE's I am assuming do not. I previously had OE's from Ideal and they did not, and the 2 new ones are from Ideal.

I had one Cream Legbar in a mixed flock and she was bullied, not because of her crest but her skittish personality.

If your New Hampshires are anything like my Welsummer (I have heard NH can be bossy), then the Cream Legbar (and maybe even the Leghorns) will have a very hard time of it.

This is just my experience; yours may get along just fine! Hope this helps .

The NH's are supposed to be docile, but I have noticed bossiness from them and they are only a week old!

One of my EE's is a bit skittish. I am hoping because she has age and size on the NH's that she will put them in their place while they are young.

 

[Fluffy_Butt_Hutt]

Some chickens just have it out for each other. Less of a difference in weight helps, but if the bird is skittish and never stands up for itself, that chicken will be bottom of the pecking order. I never would have guessed that my pecking order would be flipped multiple times before any of them were laying. I've not heard of chickens picking on each other due to being different, only based on if another annoys them or threatens their position. While a momma hen might kill a chick for being different or impaired, a flock adapts to each other's presence and generally can get along. If you end up with a bully hen, I've noticed most would recommend you remove the one harming other birds, because they often pick on multiple and not just one target.

 

[angc11]

Yeah according to my experience at least, it's really the bird's individual temperament that determine whether they get bullied or not. I have a flock of 19, all different breeds, sizes, colors, crests and no crests, beards and no beards etc. I only have one barbu d'uccle mix in the flock. she's about half the size (or less) of all the rest of the hens but she's by far the biggest bully in the flock and bullies everyone indiscriminately. I named her Baby Jane after the movie "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?"

 

[AinaWGSD]

Not necessarily. As others have pointed out, it really depends on the individual temperaments of your chickens.

This is Artemis, she's not quite the only crested hen in my flock of 6 (my olive egger also has a small crest) but she is the only one who's crest is large enough to partially obscure her vision. She's an odd one and after a year and a half I still can't quite figure out how much of her hanging out on her own is by personal preference and how much is the other birds. She was second lowest on the pecking order but after adding a new pullet this summer she's solidly in the middle. When we introduced the newest pullet Artemis was her biggest bully with the new pullet getting along quickly with the middle-of-the-pecking-order hen and herself bullying the lowest in the pecking order (the top two hens only bullied her when they were very close). Overall though, my flock all seem to get along. There is definitely a pecking order, but it's not rigid and there's no bullying that I can see now that everyone has settled in.

 

[Appalachickens]

My two EE's do not have crests. They are just over 2 years old. The 2 OE's I am assuming do not. I previously had OE's from Ideal and they did not, and the 2 new ones are from Ideal.

My EE doesn't have a crest, but the OE has a small one. Mixed with legbar, I'm told.