Hello group, My wife wasn't to keen on the idea of chickens until she saw how beautiful some of them really are. I did some homework on the breeds and I think the Buff Orpingtons would be a good breed for my area (NE Pennsylvania). But now my wife wonders if we can get a variety of birds and keep them in same coop. I thought as long as they have enough food and water they wouldn't care who was there but I don't really know. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Good Morning, The Buff Orpingtons that I have had have been very passive and friendly towards other breeds....silkies, cochins and brahmas. They don't seem to use their larger size to try and dominate. They are my favourite by far and will replace any breed that I lose from now on with only Buffs. They are very hardy, tolerate the cold Canadian winters well and seem very disease resistant. They are reliable egg-layers as well. If I could figure out how to transfer a picture taken with the old style camera into a digital one to post on the internet, I would show you a rooster and his 2 hens photographed calmly walking thru my house after someone left the front door open. They are very quiet and seem to have a brain....unlike the others mentioned above! Carolyn
They will do fine with other breeds. I have my two Buff Orps with Rhode Isl Reds, Silver Laced Wyandottes and Barred Plymouth Rocks and they get along just fine. Naturally, there is a pecking order, but 99% of the time, there's total peace in the coop.
I have 29 different breeds together and have never had a problem. Just make sure you don't get too many roosters and you'll be fine.
I've only had problems with mixing bantams and standards. They should be fine as long as everyone is around the same size.
mixing breeds is fine, they all have similar body language and vocalisations which is how they comunicate, it's like having different breeds of dog together, they can still all 'talk' to each other and they seem to get on fine.
Rubber eggs! I have a buckeye, she feathered strange and took forever to get fully feathered, her growth was slow too even though she was eating the most food. We give oyster shell and oats in yogurt daily. All other hens eggs have good hard shells. This one though, first egg, rubber, she just dropped in the yard while pecking around. Second egg the next night, rubber, dropped from the roost. Anyone else have this with a buckeye or new layer in general...seems happy and healthy in all other ways.