Minimum orders

[cresty]

Hi Happyhens,

<Which breeds in particular are you interested in?> I thought I knew but the more I read...the more confused I become. I was leaning towards RIRs and a couple of silkies (for beauty) but someone said not to mix the silkies with the other birds 'cause they may get picked on for being smaller. I like the feathered feet (silly huh?).

Main needs: I want egg producers but I also want them to be docile or mild-mannered. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Cresty

 

[hypnojessi]

I've heard that Buff Orpingtons are docile like the Brahmas. They are good brown egg layers.

 

[happyhens]

Do you want bantams or standard sized chickens? I am not sure that any of the bantams are good layers. However, I can suggest a bunch of different standard breeds that are great egg layers and docile as well. I have owned all of the different breeds on the folllowing list unless otherwise stated and I was happy with all of them-
Silver Laced Wyandottes (I have never had any of the other varieties like the Golden Laced, but I'd say there isn't much difference, I plan to try out the Golden Laced variety sometime this year.)
Buff Orpingtons (VERY docile, make great pets, not as great layers as some of the other breeds, but still good)
White Rocks (great birds, I loved them!)
Black Australorps (I have an order of 20 pullets of this breed coming from Cackle. I have owned them before as chicks, never fully grown, but I have heard great things about their laying qualities, and I loved them as chicks)
Easter Eggers, otherwise known as Ameracaunas or Aracaunas, there is a difference in the breeds but that is for another topic. They lay green or blue colored eggs, again I had them as chicks and they were great. Very colorful chickens.
Black Sex-links- I had one hen of this breed that I named Jezebel, because if you waved your foot in her face she would peck at it. She wasn't mean, she was just trying to protect herself from us picking on her LOL She was a great layer and I loved her to death.
White Leghorns- great layers of white eggs, but pretty flighty. Don't make very good pets, IMO. But they will literally lay themselves to death.
Rhode Island Reds- Great Layers of big brown eggs, I had a hen one time that I bought when she was already almost two years old. She wasn't really gentle, but I'm sure she would have been if I had had her from a chick, the other person that had her didn't spend much time with her. Good birds.
Bantams
I don't really have that much experience with bantams, I had some game bantam mixes that I didn't like very much, but then I had a few silkie chicks and a few cochin chicks that I loved. I don't think there are any bantams that are really great layers. Silkies and Cochins, and most other bantams are better broodies than layers. I also had 3 black tailed white japanese bantams, but even as chicks they were so flighty I don't think they ever would have made good pets. I also had Mille Fleur d'Uccles as chicks that were pretty docile, I liked them quite a bit, but I like the cochins better. There are standard and bantam cochins.

 

[happyhens]

Oh yeah and about not mixing the silkie with other breeds, as chicks there were no problems with mine being picked on. I would try it if I were you, you can always seperate or get rid of the birds you like the least. But I don't think you will need to take those measures, they get settled into a pecking order, and then they are fine, usually. Good luck and have fun with your bird! Are these your first?

 

[saraltx]

As I posted in my introduction, I'm only at the beginning of planning my chicken adventure. I also want to start out with just a small number. I was thinking about ordering from Ideal-Poultry, and then fill up whatever will be missing to $20 with ordering one of their books or feeding supplement or such.
By the way, how many chicken would be recommended to order if I want to have let's say 3 hens in the end? My thinking was that first I should about double the number, because about half of what I get will turn out to be males. This would make an order of 6. Then I read that it is likely that only about 75% of the ordered baby chicks will survive into adulthood. So I would need to add at least 2 chicks more just to be sure and end up with an order of 8. Is this calculation reasonable to the more experienced poultry keepers?