Breed Compatibility

[Darkfeather]

I'm just starting out with chickens, and my main desire was to raise and breed some Silkies. However, I've had interest in a few other breeds as well. I know that Silkies can't get along with certain breeds, but I'm not sure what can go with them.

I'm interested in mostly asian breeds, like the Phoenix. But also Yokohama and Polish chickens.

Does anyone have any advice or know where I can find a good compatibility chart?

 

[foxypoproxy]

Quote:
From my own experience, i can say it actually all depends on the personality of the chicken.
My silkies were on the top of the pecking order with my bantams.
They never got picked on, instead they picked on our other chickens like our Japanese.

I also had a bantam polish roo and normally people say to not have them in mixed flocks because they will get their crest feathers pulled.
But i never ran across that problem and he did fine in my mixed flock.

But it is good to be aware of what "could" happen.
The other chickens "could" pick/bully the polish and/or silkies.

Some chickens are calm and docile, some are spunky and dominant, so you can't "'always" rely on just the breed.

But it is important to keep in mind that chicken size does matter.
Because silkies are known for being docile and our smaller then standards, i would imagine they wouldn't be able to defend themselves against bigger breeds (but like i said it depends on the personality of the individual chicken).

Some people have bantam OEG's that boss around their standards.

To be safe then sorry, i would assume that the bigger ones would pick on the silkies.
So if you want both, i would be prepared.
If you want you can have all bantams with the silkies, or just keep the silkies in a separate pen from the standard size ones, its up to you.

I can not tell you whether it will or will not work out., thats up to the chickens

 

[WoodlandWoman]

You can look at the behavior column on Henderson's breed chart, to get a general idea of what some breeds are like. Sometimes a particular bloodline will be different or an individual bird will be different, just like with dogs. It's a place to start, at least.

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html