Can we start out with a variety of chicks?

[HELPPLS]

We don't know what kind of chickens to start out with. I would love a variety. I live in south Mississippi and it gets hot here in the summer so we need heat tolerant chickens. We want mostly dual purpose. Maybe a little more for the egg laying than eating the chickens right now. We know we want RIR but we don't know what else to get. Is it okay to get several different kinds and raise them together? We also don't know how many to start with. 6? 10? 12? Where we are going to get them, they only special order roosters, but which kind is compatible with different breeds of females? I want to get different breeds at one time so I don't have to raise any new ones in the heat of the summer. ANY advice is soooo appreciated.

 

[Odelia]

Yes you can have a flock of different breeds of chickens. It is best if they are raised together. Chicks that shared a brooder get along better than chickens introduced at an older age. I like getting a rainbow of eggs in my carton so I would suggest one that lays a colored egg. There is the Ameraucana, Easter egger, pure Araucana, Cream Legbar, or Blue Isbar. The last two are harder to find, but you never know what you have locally until you look. In my area there is a woman advertising cream Legbars though craigslist. For a dark egg there is the Marans, Welsummer, Barnevelder, and Penedesenca. Here is a link to a chart with basic info on different breeds like egg color productivity and behavior.

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

 

[HELPPLS]

Wow! Thank you so much for all of the information. Thank you for the link as well.