Hello all.... I have previously had chickens of three different breeds mixed together in one pen without issues. I had one rooster as well.
A couple months ago, my flock got attached by foxes during the daylight....which has never occurred before. We all know that foxes come out at night to hunt, but they must have been very hungry to get my chickens in the daylight hours. I didn't lose all of them however.
I have a few Silkie hens and a couple other chickens that I don't know the breed of.
I'm looking at adding some more chickens of various breeds into the flock to include a Top Hat. A local resident is looking at giving us her chickens as she can no longer have them and I'd like to give them a good home.
I have a large chicken pen/coop that we built and is large enough for at least 30 chickens.
We usually let our chickens free roam during the daylight hours and then just as the sun is going down...they head back into the pen and we lock the door on them.
Are there concerns in mixing breeds? With the flock that is left, I don't have a rooster, but the one Top Hat we will add is a rooster and will be the only rooster with the flock. We are looking at adding another 12 chickens with our Silkies.
Forgive me for my ignorance with chicken breeds.... I've attached some photos of the chickens we are looking at adding. If you all can point out the breeds of them...I would surely appreciate it. I know one of them is a Top Hat and he's the rooster.
We use our chickens as pets and for their eggs. We do not use our chickens for meat. We are considering breeding them. We have in the past, for the first time, hatched some of our Silkies ourselves. As rookies...we did well hatching 15 of them. We know that if we want to breed a certain type of chicken...we'd have to have the rooster of that particular breed. With the Top Hat in the mix....I would think as long as we don't try hatching the eggs, we'll be fine. He will be our only Top Hat, unless I can convince her to sell or give me one of the Top Hat hens.
Is there anything we should be advised on before we integrate the various breeds in the same pen/coop? We know that there will be a pecking order established up front. Is it advised against intermixing breeds?
Thank you all.
Here's the 11 hens we are looking at adding:

Here's the Top Hat rooster we are looking at adding. He's the one in front with the brown and black closest to the camera:

A couple months ago, my flock got attached by foxes during the daylight....which has never occurred before. We all know that foxes come out at night to hunt, but they must have been very hungry to get my chickens in the daylight hours. I didn't lose all of them however.
I have a few Silkie hens and a couple other chickens that I don't know the breed of.
I'm looking at adding some more chickens of various breeds into the flock to include a Top Hat. A local resident is looking at giving us her chickens as she can no longer have them and I'd like to give them a good home.
I have a large chicken pen/coop that we built and is large enough for at least 30 chickens.
We usually let our chickens free roam during the daylight hours and then just as the sun is going down...they head back into the pen and we lock the door on them.
Are there concerns in mixing breeds? With the flock that is left, I don't have a rooster, but the one Top Hat we will add is a rooster and will be the only rooster with the flock. We are looking at adding another 12 chickens with our Silkies.
Forgive me for my ignorance with chicken breeds.... I've attached some photos of the chickens we are looking at adding. If you all can point out the breeds of them...I would surely appreciate it. I know one of them is a Top Hat and he's the rooster.
We use our chickens as pets and for their eggs. We do not use our chickens for meat. We are considering breeding them. We have in the past, for the first time, hatched some of our Silkies ourselves. As rookies...we did well hatching 15 of them. We know that if we want to breed a certain type of chicken...we'd have to have the rooster of that particular breed. With the Top Hat in the mix....I would think as long as we don't try hatching the eggs, we'll be fine. He will be our only Top Hat, unless I can convince her to sell or give me one of the Top Hat hens.
Is there anything we should be advised on before we integrate the various breeds in the same pen/coop? We know that there will be a pecking order established up front. Is it advised against intermixing breeds?
Thank you all.
Here's the 11 hens we are looking at adding:
Here's the Top Hat rooster we are looking at adding. He's the one in front with the brown and black closest to the camera: