Mixed flock versus single breed flock - pros and cons? Which do you keep?

[ajroth166]

I have a mixed flock. I started with a doz Rhode Island reds and rooster for egg production but I caught the chicken obsession and got hooked on the different colored eggs so I bought two doz hatching eggs which were chickens and ducks. Only one duck made it through so I bought 5 khaki Campbells and added them to the flock, and then sold the roosters. The ones that stayed went in an adjoining stall but were able to share the same pasture but just sectioned off with chicken wire. They were able to see and hear each other before I transitioned them together in the same coop. Now I did two new rounds of incubating and have 5 ducks and 17 chickens that I’ll do the same type of transitioning with. I love my mixed flocks and breeds. It’s a little more work but if you transition them right they’ll be good

 

[LaLonnie Nelson]

I am relatively new to raising chickens & I chose 4 Black Australorp ‘s! Mainly because of our climate & the fact that their quiet & docile plus decent egg layers! I was afraid to mix them up ( because I read they could be at the bottom of the pecking order! So far so good

 

[LozzyR]

I’ve heard that there was a study done that showed chickens can be ‘racist’ (chookist even!) if brought up with all the same breed. I did a quick scan but couldn’t immediately see any peer-reviewed articles on the subject. There is a poultry website that says Isa Browns can be ‘chookist’ and given that they tend to be the main battery breed, it ties in with that theory. However, other breeders/owners with one (or mostly one) breed may have noticed otherwise?

 

[KSH1]

@LozzyR I noticed this when I was given a white hen. My existing flock had been raised with lots of shades of brown, black, blue, buff, etc but no white. The hens seemed ok but the rooster thought she was an alien lol

 

[The Moonshiner]

Chickens aren't racist. People tend to see what they want to see in their flocks.
I have a mixed breeds laying flock and at one time it was very mixed with probably 25 different breeds.
It was added to and subtracted from several times a year.
Chickens that were raised together oftened stayed together or hung out together over time. Even if one was taken out of the main flock for months and then put back.
A lot of times I saw birds that were simular but different breeds would tend to stick together more. The more flighty breeds like leghorns, pheonix, andalusians etc. Then the heavier slower breeds like cochins, orpingtons etc. Then there was always the trouble making bullies. RSL, RIR barred rocks etc.
They seem to stick with who they were raised with and then form clicks like in high school more so then stick just to their breeds exclusively.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is this just a chicken semantic thing?

To a certain extent I think it is semantics. First there were wild chickens. Mankind domesticated them and learned that with selective breeding they could improve egg-laying, size for meat, or keep certain decorative things like a crest. So different "types" of chickens were developed. Then some people wanted to have a contest, who can breed the best chicken. To let the judge know what the rules were they wrote a description, what we call the Standard or Perfection (SOP). That's when breeds were born. Eventually countries developed "associations" that standardized breeds. Interestingly different countries can have different descriptions of what constitutes a breed. The UK Auracana can look a lot different from the US Auracana for example. I don't think the UK even officially recognizes the Ameraucana as a breed. Different countries recognize different colors/patterns too. Breeds are totally a manmade thing, nothing really natural about them.

Some recognized breeds have only one approved color/pattern. Some recognize several different color/patterns. There are several projects going on to either get certain breeds recognized in the US that are not currently recognized (Cream Legbar for one) or to get a new color/pattern recognized for a recognized breed (Black Mottled Ameraucana) is one I'm aware of.

I'm not going to copy an SOP, that would probably be a copyright violation. The way the write-up for different breeds is organized can vary in the SOP but I'll try to show a standard one.

First they give a pretty precise description of how certain words are described. What do they mean by cape, beard, or barring for example. That's pretty standard in a legal document. Basically give a definition of key words they will use. This is how the American Association defines Breed.

"Breed: A race of fowls, the members of which maintain distinctive shape characteristics that they possess in common. Breed is a broader term than variety. Breed includes varieties, as, for example, the Barred, White and Buff varieties of the Plymouth Rock breed.

I could not find a definition of "purebred" in the SOP. I've heard that chickens need to breed true for five generations before they are considered purebred but I think that is just a rule of thumb, not a hard and fast requirement.

Then they describe the requirements of a specific breed. They give STANDARD WEIGHTS of Cock, Hen, Cockerel, and Pullet.

Then they give the SHAPE OF MALE with pretty precise descriptions of the various parts. Head: Beak: Eyes: Comb: Wattles and Ear Lobes: Neck: Wings: Back: Tail: Breast: Legs and Toes:

This is how they describe this particular comb, for example.

Comb: Single, rather large, set firmly on head, perfectly straight and upright; five well-defined points, those at front and rear smaller than middle ones; fine in texture; blades free from serrations.

Then they give an equally precise description of the SHAPE OF FEMALE.

Then they go into specific requirements for each approved color. For a specific color/patrtern they describe what are automatic disqualifications. Then they go through the COLOR OF MALE. Beak: Eyes: Comb, Face, Wattles and Ear-Lobes: Shanks and Toes: and Plumage. I'll give an example of the plumage description for a buff male of this breed to show how precise they are.

Plumage: Surface throughout an even shade of rich, golden buff, free from shafting or mealy appearance; the head, neck, hackle, back, wing- bows and saddle richly glossed. Under-color, a lighter shade of buff, free from foreign color. Different shades of buff in two or more sections, is a serious defect. A harmonious blending of buff in all sections is most desirable.

Next they go through a detailed description of the COLOR OF FEMALE.

Then they go through this process to define each different color/pattern in all the approved color/patterns.

If you have waded through all this congratulations. It can be a tough slog. I don't think this is a total hijack of the thread because to discuss whether a single breed is better than a mixed flock you need to know what a "breed" is. I looked at different dictionary definitions of "purebred" and "purebreed". Different dictionaries gave different definitions. Some include variety, some just say breed. So use whatever definition you wish.

But I'll go back to what my original point was supposed to be. If a reason you want a purebred flock is to sell hatching eggs or chicks, the value of those eggs or chicks will diminish if you mix different colors/patterns.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chickens that were raised together oftened stayed together or hung out together over time. Even if one was taken out of the main flock for months and then put back.
A lot of times I saw birds that were simular but different breeds would tend to stick together more. The more flighty breeds like leghorns, pheonix, andalusians etc. Then the heavier slower breeds like cochins, orpingtons etc.

This has also been my experience. When I had a flock of Black Ausralorp, Delaware, Buff Orp, and Speckled Susses (2 hens of each breed) with a SS rooster and all raised together, one Delaware and both Black Australorps hung together. The other Delaware and all the Buff Orps and SS stayed with the rooster, for example. Same with chickens raised together or sharing a personality, they tended to hang together even when fully grown.

What is cause and what is just a correlation can be difficult to determine and individual opinion and experience comes into play. The correlation may be that certain colors or breeds hang together but the cause of that is not necessarily color or breed.

Another example. I had a broody hen hatch some chicks, all red. A couple of days later I gave her some incubator chicks, some red and two black. She accepted the new red chicks but rejected the two black chicks. My take on that is that she had imprinted on her red chicks but the black ones were different. It was definitely a color thing. But to muddy the waters earlier in the year she had hatched and raised a brood that included both red and black chicks. I don't consider her a racist because she had raised black chicks earlier in the year. The cause was that she had imprinted on her red chicks, not that she hated black chicks, though if she had not raised that earlier mixed color brood my take may have been different.

 

[harmonyp]

I have my chickie girls, "mostly" as pets. The eggs are a perk, but since we don't eat that many, my workmates get to experience the joy of farm fresh eggs from happy hens.

As pets, I like to see which breeds are the most fun to have around. I started with two each of Buff Orpingtons, Australorps and Barred Rocks. 7 years later, and after a coyote attack on my remaining 3 enjoying their last free-range, I now am brooding chicks that are near ready to go outside. They are a combination of Brahmas, Cochins, Rocks, Wyandottes, Speckled Sussex's, and then a Barnevelder, Easter Egger, and Cuckoo Maran (that was supposed to be a Jersey Giant, but the feed store lady picked incorrectly).

I used to breed Quarter Horses. As a breeder, I would most certainly focus on specific breed(s). As a pet guardian, single vs many breeds makes no difference, and I absolutely love the variety.

I have no other birds outside of chickens.

 

[Crysta919]

I currently have a mixed breed flock (Orps, Polish, Sussex, Wyandotte, Jersey Giant) but since half of my chickens are Orpingtons and there are still several other color varieties of Orpington I'd like to collect (like splash, chocolate cuckoo and crele) I've been considering eventually phasing over into a single breed flock as they get older, selling out my other breeds to make room for incoming Orps.

Which do you have, and why? What are some of the advantages of a single breed flock versus keeping several breeds all together?

Do you mix other poultry in with your chickens too (ducks, geese, quail)? Do you keep them segregated or are they comingling?

I have a mixed flock with about 40 chickens and 3 ducks. The chickens that were born here are mixed breeds, and I honestly don't know the breeds of a lot of my chickens. I have cochins, buff orps, Rhode island reds, golden comets, golden and silver wyndottes, leghorns, frizzles, bantams, some hens with top hats (polish crested mixes I think, they don't look like the purebreds), and more. We take in any unwanted hens in our area and red hens are really common here so we have a lot of red hens. 2 of our ducks are Khaki Campbell's and the other is a large black duck, don't know the breed(s). All our ducks are gir

 

[Crysta919]

I have a mixed flock with about 40 chickens and 3 ducks. The chickens that were born here are mixed breeds, and I honestly don't know the breeds of a lot of my chickens. I have cochins, buff orps, Rhode island reds, golden comets, golden and silver wyndottes, leghorns, frizzles, bantams, some hens with top hats (polish crested mixes I think, they don't look like the purebreds), and more. We take in any unwanted hens in our area and red hens are really common here so we have a lot of red hens. 2 of our ducks are Khaki Campbell's and the other is a large black duck, don't know the breed(s). All our ducks are gir

Hit post before I was done typing. Oops! All our ducks are girls. We had a Drake but he tried to mate with the chickens and I lost hens because of it so he found a new home.