Australorp vs Wyandotte

[Chick-a-de]

I have 2 GLW and they are friendly and pretty. They are my biggest hens but lay smaller eggs. If you are choosing for eggs, I'd choose a different breed that eats less feed and lays more eggs. But this is my 1st GLW experience, so I could have 2 odd balls.

 

[olivigus]

Personally, I would get one of each, because they are both lovely, and you can't necessarily predict who will do what. It's interesting to read people's breed experiences. I have found a lot of variation from the conventional wisdom about various breeds in my own flock. I used to call my two black Australorps the enforcers, because while they weren't the head hens, they hung around with them and tended to bully everyone below them. Then one day, one of them (ironcially named Happy) suddenly became the flock pariah and had everyone ganging up on her. It got to where she wouldn't even go outside but just perched in the coop all day. I had to move her to her own small coop so she could have a life and stay safe. I put Bella, my young blue-laced wyandotte, who was on the bottom of the pecking order in the big flock, in there with her so she wouldn't be alone, and they got along just fine for about a year. Happy recovered from her bully trauma and became a very sweet hen. Then my older sliver-laced started having trouble with the ramp to the big coop, so I moved her to the mini-coop, which has a much shallower ramp. Both wyandottes then started picking on poor Happy again. And Bella, who had been getting along fine with her up till then, was the worst. So now Bella is back in the big flock, and Tiki continues to live with Happy in the mini-coop, and they seem to be getting along again. I will never understand chicken politics!

 

[AntiqueB]

Chicken drama is often incomprehensible! I'm glad it all worked out in the end.