Mixed Flock or Not?

[kathychick]

She is a Shih Tzu. Queen of all she surveys.

 

[Magnolia86]

Cute dog!

I really want a mixed flock, but I have almost all Buff Orpingtons from MM. My thinking was if I ever want to make a little extra money, I could sell hatching eggs or chicks and be able to say they are for sure pure bred. Plus, the Buffs really do sound like an all around great chicken to keep. I do have some Olive Eggers I hatched out and am going to keep the hens, but my thinking was that I would obviously be able to tell a difference between their eggs and my Buffs. I REALLY want some Wyandottes, but they lay the same color egg as the Buffs

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Our first year with chickens to find out if we were chicken people we purchased cheap hatchery chicks at our local Agway in the spring. We brooded in a tote with normal bulb in dry wall light and had a make **** coop over summer; childs plastic playhouse with roost poles installed sitting on old half sheet of plywood and latches put on door and shutters. Little money into everything and had several breeds to be introduced to. By the end of that summer we we're hooked so built a permanent coop and realized we like the personality of Plymouth Rocks.

Now that we are Plymouth Rock folks we've been working on a pure Rock flock. For color diversity we went with Blue Rocks. Shipped eggs to my area just don't fair that well so it's taken a few years to get there but this spring we'll only be hatching our own eggs and working on the breed from there.

 

[LaynaDon95]

I have a very, very mixed flock. Heck, even most of the chickens themselves are mixed!

The pure breeds I have are Rhode Island Red (great at foraging!) Amarauncana/Easter Egger depending on who you ask (LOVE the green and blue eggs!), Red Sex Link (They have just started laying, so I can't really tell you much about them except they aren't very friendly) Buff Orpington, Silkies, and standard sized Cochins. The silkies and the cochins are not laying yet, but they sure are pretty! I really like all of them, even (or maybe especially....) the mutts. They each have such a personality!

 

[kathychick]

For those with mixed flocks - do certain breeds get along better than others?

 

[WaltzingBigBend]

Our barred rocks and australorps get along famously. Maybe because they are both fairly mild-mannered breeds? Though it might be interesting to mix flighty breeds with tamer ones and just watch the show...

 

[kathychick]

Since we are newbies we are looking at those marked 'docile' or 'friendly' or 'calm' in the breeders area. So our show might be more like watching paint dry!

Now if we could get ratings of people ....... Stay away - flighty and broody

 

[Chicken Slave]

Kathychick, I would reference the page I was just lucky enough to find in the breeds section of the forum. It give specifics on all the breeds as to temperment, laying ability, hardiness, etc. You can then pick breeds that will fit your needs. If you want layers, pick according to the laying section of the info. and so on. I am happy w/ the breeds I have had since May with my first encounter having chickens. Loving it so far but you do have some uphill battles to fight. My foe was a snake. Good luck and have fun with them! Well hey, here's the link, it was still in the next tab over. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

 

[mtnviewfarms]

Great question! like some of the others who posted, I began with one breed, wanted to focus on Heritage Breed so started with Plymouth Barred Rocks but like others said, too, I've since 'branched out'.

My PBRs are still the 'backbone of my flock' due to their prolific egg laying of large to extra large brown eggs which is pretty consistent even throughout the winter here in north GA w/o added light to their coop.

I also have Welsummers - LOVE THOSE LARGE TERRA COTTA COLORED - SOME WITH SPECKLES - EGGS. The Wellie Roos are indeed the 'eye candy' of my flock. The Kellogg's corn flake logo was a Wellie Roo. The pullets are beautiful as well. My Wellie pullets have nearly stopped laying since the days are so much shorter - unlike the BRs which keep on keeping on!

Have only two Easter Egger pullets that are gorgeous - body configuration of Ameraucanas with muffs and beards - their coloring is Blue Wheaton but their legs are emerald green ( which I love ) vs. slate so they are definitely EEs. Eggs are superb pale blue/green and large but they also stopped laying with the shorter days.

I most recently added Black Australorps to my mixed flock and now that I've had them I WILL ALWAYS HAVE BLACK AUSTRALORPS as they are the calmest and most people friendly pullets of the breeds I've had thus far, even allow me to pet and touch them w/o too much protestation whereas all my other birds 'literally run screaming if I try to touch them'. Their eggs vary in size from medium to large and are a very pale almost pinkish ivory color - gorgeous! They also have continued to lay w/o added light to the coop but have slowed down some in that regard. Australorps also have the prettiest of pullet
faces as they have very large dark brown eyes and lots of red on the face - much more attractive than my other breed pullets faces. JMHO.

I also have Roosters of all the breeds I have since I want to be able to breed them.

One thing you may want to consider since you are going to go to Meyer to pick up your birds ( you lucky people - I would LOVE to be close enough to Meyer ( where I've purchased most of my 'original stock' and been very satisfied with their poultry ) or any other major hatchery for that matter so I could go and pick them up vs. shipping the chicks.

Just last week had a horrific disaster with nearly 50 chicks arriving dead from Meyer which they will replace but it was so sad. Meyer has a 'Rainbow Pullet Pack' which is 25 pullets - at least five different breeds - no hybrids - and all will lay various colored eggs.

Take care and have fun at Meyer!

 

[featheredmom]

We started with Barred Rock because my husband grew up with some and liked them, Easter Eggers because I had fond memories of getting blue eggs at a local farm with my grandfather, production reds because I wanted/needed eggs for my bakery, and 2 silkies at the kids request(we have a partridge and a blue).

Then when the kids started 4H they wanted/needed "fancy" chickens, so we now have feather footed bantams and top hats. They are only 1 and 2wks old, so we are unsure about many things about them.

THEN, I wanted true Ameraucana's, so I ordered some through someone here on BYC to be delivered in spring. My first breeder birds-WHOO HOO!!

We will actually have 3 chicken coops in the spring, one for the existing flock, they get along so well I hate to disturb their balance, another for the bantams(the silkies MAY end up being moved here, not sure yet), and a third for our Ameraucana's to keep them "pure" IF we ever want to hatch any. We have the property for it, so its all good.

We are also planning on building a breeding pen just in case we ever want to breed a specific chick...we have some frizzle cochins, the silkies, and a few other unique breeds that we may or may not want to breed someday.

Then there are the ducks, 10 of them, they will have their own space as well...and my daughter now also wants call ducks in the spring ;-) We love our birds!!