Chicken Breed Suggestions/Questions

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reecemorgan

reecemorgan

In the Brooder
Aug 6, 2015
12
0
22
United States,Kentucky
This Christmas, I tragically lost my beloved white crested black polish rooster, Floyd, to a hawk. I found him a ways off with his black feathers stained red and his body cold and lifeless. It was a morbid sight.
sad.png
Anyways, we are completely renovating the coop and run to make it more protected, hawk-proof and weather-proof. However, I am wanting to add three more chickens to my flock of, now, three. I have an Australorp hen, GL Wyandotte roo, and a buff Brahma hen. All have very pleasant personalities and aren't aggressive towards me or each other. I live in Kentucky, so we can have pretty bad winters (although this year hasn't been that bad) and we can have summers in the 100 degrees. I have my heart set on getting another polish, a silkie, and possibly and Americana- all female. However, I am open to any suggestions. I want good "pet" chickens and egg layers that will get along with the chickens that I already have- which I am sure won't be a major problem. Any ideas? Also, do Silkies do well in hot and cold weather? I've heard many different answers on this. Thanks for all of the help!

R.I.P. Floyd
 
Good laying breeds (besides Australorps and Brahmas which you already have) that have a well deserved reputation for being calm and gentle (good lap pets) include Orpingtons, Sussex, and Faverolles. Keep in mind though that there can always be an exception with any breed. I would also recommend Black Sex Links (Black Stars) which are very friendly and hardy, laying machines that will consistently churn out more than 300 large brown eggs per hen per year. Silkies are very sweet, friendly, and gentle birds but they are not the best cold weather birds and they are poor layers with very small eggs. Also, since they are bantams I would not recommend keeping them with the larger standard sized breeds as they might take a beating, even from the more gentle standard breeds. For this reason, we had to move our Silkies from the main flock into their own enclosed run.
 
Sex links are great pets,and do good any almost all climates,and lay great.
Barred rocks or even easter eggers all make great pets.
 
Silkies will do fine in Ky. Not great egg layers. Had them here further north of you. Easy target for hawks. Docile, Slow.
Polish AKA Hawk magnets, are beautiful, , Not great layers ether. Had one. She never could see danger from overhead.
Americanas, are good layers. Many Easter Eggers are falsely called Americanas. There is a difference, but unless you are specific about show quality chickens, both will make GOOD CHICKEN for the flock.
Since you said you secured your coop , I think you have a good combination .
WISHING YOU BEST AND
welcome-byc.gif
 
cavemanrich said:
Silkies will do fine in Ky. Not great egg layers. Had them here further north of you. Easy target for hawks. Docile, Slow.
Polish AKA Hawk magnets, are beautiful, , Not great layers ether. Had one. She never could see danger from overhead.
Americanas, are good layers. Many Easter Eggers are falsely called Americanas. There is a difference, but unless you are specific about show quality chickens, both will make GOOD CHICKEN for the flock.
Since you said you secured your coop , I think you have a good combination .
WISHING YOU BEST AND
welcome-byc.gif
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks for the help! Do you think the Silkies would do well with the other chickens? I just worry about my GL Wyandotte rooster. I wouldn't want him to hurt her.
 
I never kept roosters, so I cant answer that. Other than that, I think most chickens get along well. If you look at my pix, you can see that I keep a mix of banties and standards. I only keep small flock and only as pets. There is ALWAYS going to be a pecking order in EVERY flock. UNAVOIDABLE.. As long as there is plenty of room for escape, and hide, the lower ones will do OK.
 
cavemanrich said:
I never kept roosters, so I cant answer that. Other than that, I think most chickens get along well. If you look at my pix, you can see that I keep a mix of banties and standards. I only keep small flock and only as pets. There is ALWAYS going to be a pecking order in EVERY flock. UNAVOIDABLE.. As long as there is plenty of room for escape, and hide, the lower ones will do OK.
Click to expand...

Alrighty then! Thanks for the help!
 

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