Mixed Flock or Not?

[ChampionAlex]

Mixed is good either or is fine

 

[Doubleyolker]

We are limited to hens so that was my first thought, must be pullets! My hubby was working on the coop ( I told him I wanted chickens so he should start working on that! ) My first thought was 4 chickens. I couldn't do the "chicks in the mail" thing, because of their limit so it was to Big R we went. The first one on my list would be a BR... they didn't have any in this shipment DANG! So I picked out a red , a EE, a chipmunk stripped one, a black star. The sales clerk knew I was a sucker and would" throw" in a little pullet which had a crippled, balled up foot as I was getting a smaller number and maybe she would do better in a smaller flock. She was also a black star. They came from Privet?

I came home and went right to the puter to see what I should do for the crippled chick. I did the double tape thing, taping her foot flat to a postage stamp sized cardboard. It worked and within 4-5 days she was up and on the run. She turned out much lighter than her fellow black star.

When girls were a week old, one of our employees decided that buying a chick had to be great fun and without checking with us first, went to Big R and was now standing on our door step with a chick... good grief!

It was a BR ( should have waited another week it seems) I asked if it was a pullet and she shrugged and said " hummmmm I think they said it was straight" and was a little miffed at the lack of PC and how it could cause the chick some problems later in life being labeled at such a young age? Thankfully she did turn out to be a pullet and is the co-boss of the flock.

So we have 6 now. Rosie, a production red ( guessing, she is the chick in my signature thingy) , Julie, a red star, Barbie, a Br, a EE ( not sure but she has black skin and a rose comb? ) and the two Black stars Star and Freebe. The production red is the most mature and is probably the one who started laying last week. Either its her or the dark black star.

Because I am not going to hatch or show, I decided to go with a mixed flock. With the show dogs, I have enough to keep up with. I am sooooo tempted to get a few show birds but know what it would lead too..... insanity!

I might add a black australorp . I have had them in the past and was fond of them.

 

[TallChickMagnet]

What can be used if you're off-grid, to extend the hours?

You don't need a lot of light. If you can read a newspaper it's bright enough. So, maybe some non-blinking Christmas lights on a battery or something like that... yellow, white, or orange are the best colors for the chickens.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I've been reading chicken catalogs in anticipation of our first order this spring. I read the behaviors of chickens. Reading all the reviews here in BYC.
What do you think? A mixed flock or a single breed and why?

I think the correct answer to the question of mixed flock or single breed really depends on what you want to do with your chickens. If you goal is to have a small flock of hens to provide eggs for the table (and perhaps a few extra to share or sell) then a mixed flock is a very good choice. You can select for a variey of different looking chickens, so that you can tell them appart and give them names. You can also select for a variety of egg colors and have a beautiful selection of eggs. This also helps you know which hens are laying the most regularly, and allows you better information as to whether a particular hen might be ill due to a drop in the delivery of specific colors of eggs.

However, if your goal is to breed chickens or assist in the preservation of one of the endangered chicken breeds, then you might want to choose one particular breed and get to know that breed very well so that you can look for particular characteristics you want to cull out of your flock or other characteristics you want to strengthen and promote. Many of us here fit in the first category, and just enjoy the variety of looks, personalities and egg colors of a mixed flock. However, at times I think it would be fun to do the single breed thing and help save some of the interesting and rare chickens that still exist in the world.

The only thing I've heard against a mixed flock is I think you want to avoid having a whole bunch of one type of bird and then only one or two of another, especially if the one in the minority is a docile, easily bullied bird. If you have a truly mixed flock, with only a few of any given breed, they all seem to get along better than when most of them are of one variety except for an oddball or two, which might get picked on.

 

[PirateFarmer]

You don't need a lot of light. If you can read a newspaper it's bright enough. So, maybe some non-blinking Christmas lights on a battery or something like that... yellow, white, or orange are the best colors for the chickens.

Perhaps a battery-powered camp light? I've got 31 hens - no eggs! 17 are pullets from this past May, of arious breeds, including Auburn Sumatras, mixed breeds & such. We're in the banana belt in Idaho, it hasn't gotten below 20 this winter so far. I'm getting upset w/ no eggs at all - I was under the impression that the pullets, at least, would lay some. I've also got 2-4 yo RRs, Austalorps, Americaunas & Delawares - all given to me when a neighbor got divorced.

 

[TallChickMagnet]

That may work, but I hope that you have a lot of batteries. When they have already stopped laying for the winter it may take two weeks or so to start back up again after introducing the extra light. As far as your pullets go, most chicken don't start laying until about 6 to 8 months old. Notice the liberal use of the words, "about" and "most" in my writings. That's because there are very few, "any" and "all's" in raising chickens or life.




















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[mrwoodboat]

We got back into chickens with 9 Buff Orps of which 5 turned out to be roos. A local guy said he would trade me 3 full grown chickens of my choice for 3 of my roos. We picked up a New Hampshire, a white Jersey Giant and a mixed breed Rooster that has turned out to be a great pet. A week ago, we picked up 4 RIR or Red Sex links (I don't know the difference), a Barred Rock, an Austrolorp, and a pair of Ameracaunas. We have 3 coops with the Buff Orpingtons in one, the Ameracaunas in one and the rest of the flock in the third. We are hoping to raise the Buffs and the Ameracaunas, the rest are just eggers. This gives us the joy of a mixed flock as well as a single bred flock!

 

[Betsy57]

My batch from May are laying 90%. The White Leghorns started laying at 4 months. The others around 5 and the Easter Eggers around 6 months. I'm very pleased with this batch! I have light in the coop that is set on a timer. It goes on at 5 am until about 8 am and then on again around 5 pm until 9 pm.

 

[Phottoman]

What can be used if you're off-grid, to extend the hours?

My batch from May are laying 90%. The White Leghorns started laying at 4 months. The others around 5 and the Easter Eggers around 6 months. I'm very pleased with this batch! I have light in the coop that is set on a timer. It goes on at 5 am until about 8 am and then on again around 5 pm until 9 pm.

My first batch was from late March of this year (2012) and the second is from late May. First batch are 2 EE, four lite Brahma's, one dark Brahma and one golden Brahma bantam. The second batch is five each of Amaracans and Leghorns. All are producing eggs daily (it seems) or at least every other day.

I had several old (both in years and technology) solar panels, so I put one panel on each coop, and a small battery (12 V) for each coop, and a timer and L.E.D light. My lights come on at 5:00 until 10:00 PM, then the lights come back on at 6:00 and go off at 7:00 AM.

The batteries were given to me while I was at Sams Club. There was a fellow servicing the electric carts, and I asked what he was going to do with the old batteries, he said they were going to be trashed when he got back to his shop, so I asked if they could be trashed in my direction. He placed two of them in my shopping cart. The timers I bought off eBay from China at under $2 each, free shipping, and the L.E.D. lights also from eBay and under $5 each.

Here you can see both coops with their solar panels. I believe you can click on each picture for a larger view.




And here is one of the batteries with a timer.



I might mention that the batteries were in such bad condition that neither would take a charge from my trickle charger, so I hooked each to a solar panel and within a couple of days they were both charges fully.

The white pipe you see in the second picture is a feeder, I had to chop off a small section because I measured wrong, and the roof wouldn't close, then I put some removable screening on top to keep wild birds out. I still haven't found a way to keep wild birds out of the run so they will stop raiding the feed at the bottom of the feeders, but that's a discussion for another thread.

I hope this helps answer your question PirateFarmer. If you can locate some 12 V lights, preferable L.E.D. but normal 12 V lights will do in a pinch, connect them to a 12 V source, and run a timer. You can do without the solar panels by looking at the lights and as they start to dim, next day find a way to charge them. I was lucky that I had lived off the grid for many years before I moved to Arizona, and remembered to take several of my solar panels with me when I moved.

Skip

 

[redbudchix]

Just a thought here...I work in a feed store and we order pullets ONLY from Ideal. We order a hundred a week starting in February. I am in charge of the babies , and I have not had any dead ones-if you can believe that, except for one shipment. Ideal gave us a credit immediately. I have only encountered pasty butt a few times. Sorry, I digress...we only order pullets, and have to rely on our supplier. We label our chicks as pullets, so there is no confusion to our customers. So...my recommendation would be to check with the place you are buying from...ask them specifically, if its not obvious.