Mixed Flock? Polish, Orpington, Barred Rock

[Abby P]

I am get my first batch of chicks next week! I order 4 Buff Orpingtons, 4 Barred Rocks and 2 Buff Laced Polish. All females (I hope!). Anyways, I live in a small town so I picked the Buff Orpington and Barred Rock because they're quiet (from what I read) and friendly. I ordered the Polish because well....they are cute. I only plan on keeping 6 chicks total, I ordered 10 in case I lost any, but plan to rehome a few of them because I don't want to crowd my coop/run. I won't be able to free range - I do not have a fenced in yard but will have a 4x5 coop attached to a 16x10 run. I will try to have a mobile run to move around my yard as well.

Since they will all be raised together - will I have problems with my Polish getting bullied? I plan on keeping both of the Polish so they can be buddies. I am just having second thoughts if I should change my order/rehome the polish. I would really love to have polish in my flock though.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[NatJ]

Since they will all be raised together - will I have problems with my Polish getting bullied? I plan on keeping both of the Polish so they can be buddies. I am just having second thoughts if I should change my order/rehome the polish. I would really love to have polish in my flock though.

The Polish might be fine, or might not be.

Most likely, the Polish will be fine until their crests get big enough to start covering their eyes. At that point they might still be fine or they might not. You could keep their crest feathers trimmed so they can see better (but if you like the Polish because of their crests, that might make it pointless to have Polish at all.)

Since you are already planning to rehome some chickens, you could wait and decide after you've had them for a while. Just watch how they interact as they grow.

You might find that some individuals, or even all chickens of one breed, bully the Polish but some others do not. Just try to choose which birds to keep, and which one to rehome, in a way that gives you a peaceful flock that you like.

 

[K0k0shka]

Your coop is only big enough for 5. They need a minimum of 4 square feet of unobstructed floor space per bird in the coop (so that's not counting space taken up by nest boxes, feeders, etc.) Even if they "only" sleep and lay there, they still need the space. Getting ready to sleep is a conflict-prone time of the chicken day, as they squabble to decide who sleeps where. If they are cramped, tensions run higher and the potential for bullying increases. They may also spend more time inside on bad weather days, during storms, if you have a predator breach and the run is temporarily unavailable to them, etc. - there will be cases when they need to stay in the coop, and if it's too small, it can lead to bullying. Once tensions are high, any stupid little reason can push them over the edge and precipitate the bullying - and the Polish's crests could be that thing. Chickens don't like those who are different. So crests, feathered feet, etc. are often picked at. If the chickens have lots of room to roam and personal space, this is less likely. But in tight quarters, it can be a problem.

To maximize your chances of a peaceful flock, give them lots of room - both inside and out. Given that you already have one complicating factor that can lead to bullying - the Polish's crests - I'd say go above the recommendation for space just to be extra safe. Either look into expanding the coop, or pick fewer of the chickens to keep. For example, 2 Polish (so they have each other for support), 1 BO and 1 BR. That way the Polish won't be outnumbered. Rehome the rest before they are full grown, before they've crowded the coop too much and certainly before they enter puberty and start fighting over nesting boxes. With enough space, the Polish might be just fine. Or they might not be, not because of space but because they all have different personalities, and maybe one of the others really has a thing against crests. In which case you can rehome her and keep the Polish.

 

[Pghelp]

If you have a problem with bullying it may come from the Barred Rock. We had 2 in our flock and they eventually earned the names Boss Chicken and Mean B*tch because, well, they were. My Orpington is huge but she is so mild mannered it wouldn’t occur to her to bully anyone. Even though she’s big, she’s no where near the top of the pecking order.

The other thing is it’s all about their individual personalities. Some chickens are more or less aggressive than others no matter the usual characteristics of that breed. Good luck to you! I have a mixed flock of 8 and they’re all different breeds.

 

[sourland]

Frequently in mixed flocks Polish have their crests removed - even to the point of scalping. It tends to happen more frequently in penned birds rather than free ranged.