Flocks of 8 or less

[flockof4]

I have four girls, all different breeds. RIR, Buff Orp, Bla Aus and EE. I love the variety in my flock and think you will too.
They all get along well and snuggle together night and day.
I love them all equally. Hard to pick a favorite. Their personalities are all so distinct.
I got all pullets from the farmer, but he said if any of them started to crow, I could bring it back and trade it for a female.

 

[sotelomary]

I have 5 chickens. One RIR, 1 SLW, 1 GLS, and 2 ameracanas/ee. I chose them because I wanted brown or colorful eggs. I also wanted "pretty" chickens. I got my wish! I just wish they were sweeter. They don't like to be held.

Mary

 

[LyonFuzz]

I have 3 silkies, a mille fleur d'uccle, 2 bantam lavender ameraucanas, & a standard size EE that sticks out like a sore thumb. They are all happily cohabitating and have yet to run into trouble with them getting "picky" with one another. They all have different personalities, but are friendly and handlable. My favorite would have to be my EE....well, wait a minute, maybe the ameraucanas......no, the mille is a dear too.......LOL!
I have never had a roo because I bought all my girls as pullets, except the mille fleur that one of the silkies hatched and I was lucky she was a she.
Swap meets are a great place to get sexed young birds and you can look on Craigslist as well. Good luck! Hope you made a big coop because they are addictive!

A bunch of fluffy butts

Karen

 

[Akane]

I have mutts that includes welsummer x maran x penedesenca, d'uccle x who knows what that lay blue eggs, serama x japanese bantam, and standard hatchery EEs

for purebreds I have seramas, japanese bantams, orpingtons, barred rocks, and sebrights

They are seperated in to a flock of bantams and a flock of standards only because I want to collect eggs to hatch and some of my standard mutts are very very large chickens that injure my very very small chickens like the seramas. I do have 2 jap roos in with the standards right now though.

Also there are 3 guinea fowl in the standard chicken flock with 18 keets on order.

Chickens don't notice breed differences. They will hang out with whoever they grew up with and slowly mix in with the rest of the flock. I raised some standard EE with japanese bantams and those standards would not leave the bantams. I ended up with one of the hens in the bantam coop until I was cutting down my standard flock and sold her. The guineas and chickens do notice differences and have issues occasionally but aside from oversized roos injuring mini hens I haven't had any other problems with a mixed flock.

Excess roos around here lose their heads and since I don't like chicken that well they either become dog food or go to a friend who just bar b cued 4 of mine a couple weekends ago. Occasionally when I don't want to kill one but can't keep it and have extra hens I offer a free roo with whatever hens I'm selling. Most of the time someone takes the offer.

 

[fldiver97]

I currently have 5, adding #6 in 3 weeks.....I started with 5 chicks, three 3 weel old GLW's, one 3 week old EE and one 5 week old Salmon Faverolle, all girls. The guy I got them from has mostly heritage breeds (what I really wanted to get) and was willing to exchange any chicks that turned out to be roos. I can not have a roo where I live. All turned out to be sexed correctly and they got along fine. The SF was the leader. I lost the SF at age 6 months and then added one RIR and one BR both 5 weeks old. By then one of the GLW's was 'boss'. I kept the new chickens quarantined for 30 days and then put them in the coop but still seperated with a wire fence. After a couple of weeks of the 'getting to know each other' I let them roam in the yard and coop with supervision. They were almost the same size as the original group by then. There was some posturing and mild pecking, the RIR was pecked on a bit more though. Turned out to be a boy and I rehomed him when he was 17 weeks old and trying to crow. The remaining 5 are getting along fine, the GLW is still 'boss'. All the girls are about the same size (the EE is slightly smaller) and I think that helps. I will add a 10 month old Wheaten Marans to the flock soon after quarantine and slow intro....
I love my GLW's, they are beautiful and follow me around, my EE is a bit more shy but I can pet her and pick her up when I need to check her and the BR is also friendly. I have to say the SF was my favorite, she was very sweet and friendly. The Wheaten Marans I have coming is a beautiful girl too and lays beautiful dark brown eggs - don't know yet how she is as far as temperament. She seemed pretty inquisitive

 

[12GAGirl]

I have a mixed flock of nine; 5 RIR hens, 1 RIR rooster, 1 SL wyandotte, and 2 Easter Eggers. They get along for the most part; the two EEs have issues with each other sometimes. I love each breed for different reasons. I had my ordered sex from Mypetchicken.com so I picked my rooster to be an RIR. He is too cool and so far not mean at all! I enjoy my wyandotte because she is always talking about something.

twinmom+1VT :

I'm getting my first flock of chickens (6 per city ordinances). I have a couple questions:
1. Do you have a mixed flock? If so, how mixed (2 different kinds or 1 of each, etc.)
2. If you have 1 of each, do the chickens all get along?
3. What's your favorite breed in your flock?
4. What did you do when one of your chicks turned out to be a roo?

I'm thinking of getting one each of the following: Black Australorp, Buff Orpington, Golden Comet, Barred Rock, White Plymouth Rock, Easter Egger (sold as Aruancana - but pretty sure it's going to be an EE). Any special comments on any of these breeds?
I'm so excited for this new adventure!​

 

[MimiChick]

I have 4. An Ameraucana, 2 EE's (Black/Lav Orp project birds who lay green eggs) and a pretty RSL I just got and will be integrating after quarantine (lost my CM to a fox

) My girls all get along great and I love having different breeds. The best bonus is that all the eggs are different colors, so I know exactly who laid what. I think that unless you're breeding for a specific a mixed flock is great. They all have different colors, personalities, etc. and are generally just a lot of fun. One word of warning - you're going to want more

. Chickens are incredibly addicting. We were only going to have 3. then we added one more ... Now I'm planning a bigger coop

. If you can, make your coop as big as possible. You'll probably want to "go underground" with more than the allowable 6

. Have fun and

 

[lindseythefork]

1. I currently have three laying hens: two Buff Orpingtons and a Silver Laced Wyandotte. I also have three pullets still in the house, two Jersey giants and one Light Brahma.
2. They all get along great, since they were raised together. Hopefully I will be able to say the same when I introduce the younger chicks to the older girls.
3. I really like the BOs so far. They're lovable and all-around nice chickens.

4. I purchased all of mine as sexed, so if one turned out to be a roo I would talk to the feed store and see what they suggested. If it were a nice enough rooster, I would probably keep it. As long as it was nice and wasn't overly loud. lol

 

[twinmom+1VT]

I ordered my chicks on Friday! 1 each of BO, BA, GC, BR and 2 EE's! I'm so excited. They arrive May 6th so now it's time to get the brooder and coop going. I'll be honest, it's going to be really hard not to get an extra chick when I pick my guys up. Thanks for all your advice on what to get.

 

[patman75]

1. yes, I have 13 chickens and 12 different breeds.

2. The ones that were raised together get along great. However the new additions were treated rough. But that is just chickens being chickens.

3. I like them all, it depends what your going for. Do you just want more color, lots of eggs. I got a few high end egg layers and mixed up the rest.

4. He became dinner. best chicken I ever had.