Mixed Flocks?

[AlannaB]

I wondered what people's opinions were on mixed flocks please?
At present I have some 2 year old wyandotte bantams, but I do fancy trying some other breeds, maybe something larger that wont go broody at the drop of a hat (...or egg!!). What do people think about mixing different size and coloured breeds into the same flock?
Thanks,
AB

 

[chickyblogger]

I have a mixed flock and they all get along wonderfully.Just make sure the pecking order is reestablished after you add the new birds or the situation may become quite gruesome (speaking from experience)


Edited by Staff

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Totally personal choice. I have a one breed flock. @TheKeeper has a large flock that has everything from itty-bitty Seremas right up to the biggest dang Orp I've ever seen, and her birds all get along great. More important is that they have enough space to get away from one another and a few places the smaller birds can hide/escape if they want/need to.

 

[Mrs. K]

I have always had a mixed flock, once or twice I have tried a single flock, but I really do like having at least a couple of breeds. So being the 'enabler' YES, get some new breeds, always fun!

 

[Peep-Chicken]

Agree with information above! My mixed flock works great!

 

[TheKeeper]

I love my mixed flock of chickens. I also have 2 turkeys with them. The were hatched by a broody & I think that they think they're chickens.
A couple of good rules of thumb when adding new birds to your flock:
- quarantine at least 2 weeks, preferably 4 weeks
- add 2 or more birds at a time. The "newbies" will get picked on less because they have a buddy

 

[jessicaagross]

I only separate my flock when I going to be hatching eggs, otherwise they are always together. I have both docile and feisty breeds, and they get along just fine together. Don't have any bantams at the moment, but in my experience they have "little man syndrome" and the bigger ones tend to be gentle giants... I have a HUGE cochin rooster who get a weekly dressing down from an oddly small hatchery leg horn hen, she isn't even half his size but she'll peck his feet even if he try's to sweet talk her!

When I add new birds I keep them away from the flock for 2-4 weeks like TheKeeper said. Although, after at least two weeks I move them into a small pen in the actual coop, so everybody can get a good look at one another, I leave them in that for at least another week. Then I'll go in after dark when they are all sleeping and open the pen so they can all wake up together. That's what works the best for me. The pen has 2 doors, one on both ends so nobody feels trapped. But most of the time the original flock doesn't go in there. It's also big enough that I can raise a few chicks in there once they are out of the brooder, until they are big enough to be added into the flock, or until a hen takes them under wing. A couple of my girls like to adopt chicks from time to time.

 

[kathleens1979]

I had a bad experience adding new birds- they seemed healthy, but they had lice. I ended up with chicken lice crawling in my hair. It was horrible! We had treat the entire flock. I was just glad we didn't have a more serious problem. I learned my lesson. Quarantine is the way to go!!!

 

[GardenFae]

How do you say no to a flock that looks like this?


Definitely quarantine new birds and make sure they are free of disease and bugs before they are added to the coop, and introduce them slowly. I added the two on the left (Buff Orp and Australorp) several months after I raised up the EE and Wyandotte on the right as chicks; they integrated better because they had each other but there were some crazy peck-and-run incidents the first few weeks! Thankfully no major fighting, though, and now they're all one little feathery family.

 

[azygous]

You do have a very lovely family, I mean, flock!

A mixed flock is like a box of assorted chocolates. Always exciting!