Can you have one Brahma Roo and EE hens?

[Bestfamily]

New to chicken keeping and I have a question. Can you have one Dark Brahma Rooster in a flock with Easter Egger hens? I've heard that you don't want to have one chicken that looks different from the others, but not sure if that pertains to roosters too?

 

[yesterDAYNE]

Shouldn't matter. We have a splash brahma rooster with 2 EE, 1 Brahma and 2 Orpington hens and they all get along fine. Other hens previously were a red hen of some sort (she was rescued from a parking lot so no idea her breed), a black copper maran, more brahmas of various colors, a salmon faverolle, and a silkie. They all did fine together. My rooster prefers the Brahma and Orpington hens to the other, but he did breed all of them and got along fine.

 

[My Bagurks]

The looks don’t matter. The only issue that might come up is brahmas are a good bit bigger than EEs. Keep an eye on your girls. Make sure he’s isn’t TOO big, or too rough with them.

 

[cherrynberry]

New to chicken keeping and I have a question. Can you have one Dark Brahma Rooster in a flock with Easter Egger hens? I've heard that you don't want to have one chicken that looks different from the others, but not sure if that pertains to roosters too?

How many hens is more of an issue. So how many hens do you have?

 

[Bestfamily]

How many hens is more of an issue. So how many hens do you have?

I’m hoping 4 which is prob not enough I know. It’s a long story, but we got two dark Brahma chicks and 4 EE chicks and both Brahmas are looking to be Roos. The Brahmas are friendly and I hate to rehome them both. We have a small omlet coop and adding pullets isn’t an easy fix right now.

 

[cherrynberry]

I’m hoping 4 which is prob not enough I know. It’s a long story, but we got two dark Brahma chicks and 4 EE chicks and both Brahmas are looking to be Roos. The Brahmas are friendly and I hate to rehome them both. We have a small omlet coop and adding pullets isn’t an easy fix right now.

Thats definitely not enough....especially with such a.......plump breed.

If you really want to keep one, they definitely need more room and more hens. And, I recommend getting some chicken saddles (with wing protection).

 

[Bestfamily]

Thats definitely not enough....especially with such a.......plump breed.

If you really want to keep one, they definitely need more room and more hens. And, I recommend getting some chicken saddles (with wing protection).

Gotcha. Thanks !

 

[My Bagurks]

The saddles are a good idea. Cherrynberry is probably right. But it all depends on the rooster. He could be a gentle giant. But prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Plenty of people have mixed flocks, its how you end up with backyard/barnyard mixes.

Pecking orders are strange thing - but the ugly duckling of a certain fairy tale is a really simplistic, often inaccurate way of assuming flock dynamics. I'm constantly adding new birds every three weeks +/-, so the dynamic in my flock is rather fluid. If there's a hard and fast rule, it has yet to reveal itself...

and no, a DBrahma isn't "too big" for an EE. Your hens will put their keel on the ground when they squat and distribute all his weight for the brief moments he's on her. DB are slow growers. Hatchery stock, I'd be surprised if you had a male over 8.5# - 9# in the first year. The EE hen will likely be full grown in the same time period, likely close to 5.5#, maybe 6# depending on mix.

I had a 13.8# CornishX Roo mounting a 5# Comet (RSL) at 9-10 months. Fat ^&%*^& couldn't successfully do the deed, but not for lack of trying. No injuries to my little layers.

Where injuries do occur is overmating - when either due to a lack of recpetive hens, or some favoratism on the Roos part, only a couple girls get most of the attention. That's very hard on the feathers.

...and if you had ducks, the drakes are VERY fond of grabbing the hen's neck to stop her from running away. Bald patches, even with a ratio of one drake to 4, 5, 6 hens, aren't completely unheard of.