How did you begin...one breed or many?

[WoodlandWoman]

I was around my relatives' chickens as a child. When I was on my own in my late teens, I rented an old farm house with a girlfriend of mine. We were independent type women.

The farm had one of those big old hen houses and we had the classic big flock of white chickens, just like my relatives.

Later, I read an article about heritage breeds and ordered a catalog from Murray McMurray Hatchery. That's when I ordered my first mixed flock.

 

[annmarie]

I've started out with only 3, a RIR, a BR, and a Golden Comet. I chose them because they're good egg layers and hardy in the winter. I plan on letting them live out their full life since I'm a vegetarian, and because of that, this is my strategy...
These girls are now going into their second year of laying so I expect that by next fall, their production will probably be dropping big time, so next spring I'll be getting 3 more chicks that will start laying just as my original 3 slow down. I'll build a coop large enough for 12 or so birds this spring so I can keep this cycle of adding 3 chicks every 2 years going for 10 years or so, and by the time that 10 years is up, probably the originals will start dropping off

, but then I'll be able to keep perpetuating the flock and will always have some good egg layers. I plan on making my next 3 completely different breeds from the first three, just for fun. I'm assuming that most likely after I've done this a few times I'll probably have figured out a few favorites.

 

[AllChookUp]

I started out this past spring with two adult hens (a Barred Rock and a Banty) and a rooster (a moron Polish) that my cousin gave me. It wasn't enough.

I used the resources of the BYC to research what kind of additional chickens I wanted. I decided on a mix of 5 Buff Orpingtons and 5 Gold-Laced Wyandotte hens with a Silver-Laced Wyandotte rooster, based on how winter-hardy they are.

I got them as 2-day-old chicks in June, and now they all started laying this week! It's so cool to go from 1-2 eggs every other day to 6-7 every day.

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
IT DON'T MATTER , they will still peck on each other . Its there nature .

I had 4 baby chicks hatched in Oct. and they were all in a 6x6 ft. cage . ( ALL THE SAME BREED ) RIR's , They pecked each other SO MUCH 2 out of 4 were blinded .

Thats why my hatching and baby chick days are OVER . I will purchase pullets around 4 months old and closer to laying age . SO , hens that go broddy will NOT be setting on eggs ... BESIDES , if you doing the math , by the time you raise CHICKS and go thru all the different feeds and length of time before they lay , TO EXPENSIVE ..... I have over 100 head . I know the difference between BABY CHICKS or buying them at 3 - 4 months old ESP. during the winter months ....

 

[thedeacon]

McMurry web site lists by brown or white layers. Pictures of all. Pick and choose as long as minimum order of 25. I only wanted 10 hens so picked 15 different roosters and kept the 2 I liked best and ate the rest.

 

[BayCityBabe]

Quote:
Don't count on it!

I have Polish, Dominiques, Silkies, Showgirls, Australorps, Cochins, Andalusians, Hamburgs, a Phoenix and a Turken. I ordered the Rainbow Pullet Pack from Meyer. It was alot of fun to try to figure out "who was what." If I had to do it over again, I would have had a friend lined up to split my order of 30 chickens. I didn't need to start with so many. However, I am glad that I started with a mixed flock. It is my understanding that birds that are used to seeing different breeds are less likely to target others who are different. Besides, it is so fun to see their unique little selves every morning.

 

[cajunlizz]

not exactly true . I 1st. bought 6 laying hens . 5 were rir's and 1 black austrolorp .

5 days later we bought 30 baby chicks all 1 week old . rir's barred rock and austrolorps .

I did find out one thing that is very important , AS SOON as weather permits , MOVE the chicks OUT of cages into the run and coopos . I have never seen CHICKS grow so fast and HUGE like my BO's did ... they are 3.5 months old and they look like they are 5 months old . Plenty of excerise , sunlight , food , water sure helped them grow faster than any of the others that were caged for 3 months .

they were in a 6 x6 wired cage with plenty of room , plenty of ventilation . food and water and they were pecking each other like crazy . I even separated the black austrolorps from the rir's and a barred rocks , made no different to any of the breeds ... I think its by nature they do this . ONLY breed that did NOT peck each other were buff orpingtons . I had 15 in a 6x6 cage and never had a problem with pecking and now they are 3.5 months old and already loose in one of the coops and runs with other chickens and NO PROBLEMS not what so ever . In that coop and run , I have ONLY 1 rooster and there are 20 head on that side . WORKS great .

The larger COOP & RUN I have 2 roosters and about 65 - 75 head . BIG RED is the " ALPHA " and he controls the flock . Now that they are older , you will still see pecking and chasing now and then between the flock , but not near as much as when they were younger . Now ., its like a playful game kinda thing .

I am going to post a picture of the Buff Orpinstons about a month or so ago , they were only 2 months old ... EVEN bigger now .

 

[blueskylen]

I wanted an easy going flock of good layers, so have 4 Buff orps, 3 Black Australorps, 3 EE's, 1 barred rock, and a small roo that looks like a barred rock wanna be. All are about 9 months now.
they have their pecking order, but have always gotten along just fine.

i'd like to try a few turkeys in the spring - maybe the bronzed breasted ones, along with another 25 or so Cornish X.
Also, get a couple of Khaki Campbell ducks for eggs, If i could get these to swim in the pond. the last ones that I had would not go near the water, and we couldnt keep the dog away from them. had to give them away.

they are a lot of extra work, but I really enjoy having chickens!

 

[gamebirdsonly]

I justed wanted Bantams, so I got cochins and dutch. but that didn't last long after I found this site then I started getting polish and then I was given sumatra's and it's just grown from there know I have a lot of different breeds.

 

[speckledhen]

I started with four breeds. Now, I have about 12 different breeds, plus some crosses of those breeds and some color varieties within breeds, like both Buff and Blue Orpingtons. I like the variety, however, as the years go on, I may go heavy on the Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons in the main laying flock.