Do we need at least two of each breed?

[WingingIt]

I'm not sure I worded that correctly. We currently have 6 chicks in our brooder - two of them are EEs and one has developed a crossbeak. From what I've read, we can try to trim it and help it for a while but it may be a losing battle. In the case that we do lose it, that will leave us with just one EE. They are only three, almost four weeks old and our feed store still has chicks, so if I need to get more I want to do it now.

I know chickens are social animals, will one chicken of one breed be OK in a mixed coop/run with no others of it's own breed or will it be more likely to be picked on? That sounds overly worried, I know, but these two EEs stick together right now (they are in the brooder with two Buffs and two barred rocks) so I'm not sure.

Thanks!

 

[willowcol]

Yep it will be just fine. I currently have 1 brown leg horn, 1 black sexlink, 1 red sexlink, 1 buff orphington and 4 old english together and all are fine.

 

[sherrydeanne]

It'll be fine. I do think it's best to have two of each size. If I had giants or cochins, standards and bantams, I'd want at least two of each. Also, if you had 6 black australorps and one white chick, she might get picked on a ton. Mixing several breeds that are all average sizes is fine

 

[farmerlor]

My whole egg-laying flock is one or two of every breed I thought was pretty and could obtain easily. They all get along just fine. They have their very own way of determining who gets to be top chicken and it's not always the biggest one. If you let them live in a big enough area with enough good food they won't feel the need to pick on anyone generally.

 

[poultryhaven]

They will be fine. I have 4 red sexlinks, 2 black giants, an asil roo, and 1 white leghorn and the white leghorn doesn't get picked on and there isn't really a dominant hen so theyre fine.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Of course silly. A chickens a chicken no matter how small or what breed.

 

[sfw2]

Of course, there are those in BYC-land who will tell you that you should have at least SIX of each breed. Or ten. Ten is a nice round number. Because you can NEVER have too many chickens, right?

Seriously, though, I agree with the previous responses. Hope you can fix the crossbeaked EE, though.

 

[WingingIt]

Quote:
Thanks, everyone. Right now we've got 15 of one breed, then the 6 mentioned above that are in the brooder so I've got the min. of 10 covered on the one breed.