Mixing Breeds

[chick a dee]

I am a newbie to raising chickens. We bought week old chicks from a few different places. I have a couple of each ~ silkies, frizzles, new hampshire, amerucana, barred plymouth rock, wyandottes, a black australorp, a light brahama and a orington. The first batch we bought as a straight run, so I'm sure I have a roo or two. I love them all, and are hoping that most are girls. (I don't want to part with any!) I enjoy watching them, and can't wait for them to grow (which is at a rapid rate I see

) They are 4-6 weeks old , except for our new lil Rhode Island Red thats 2 weeks. We watch them alot. Coffee every morning and iced tea every afternoon ~ evening. They get along great. No pecking each other, and the little RIR is happy and content. They are in a large enough space to roam. We made a chick pen on our back yard grass with old Rack shelving stacked behind the grocery store that they were tossing. We stood them up on the sides and zip tied them all together, and made a roof the same way~ leaving one corner zip tied on one end so we can open it up to get in. We also covered the roof with a roll of bamboo (doubled over) I add a king sized fitted sheet at night over the whole thing & turn the lamp on) Works Awesome! Okay... Now my question. Will the mixed breeds get along if they are raised together or are they going to get agressive. I bought " Keeping Chickens" book and it seems to tend towards no? I've been reading alot of posts here and think it's the best place for info. Love this site! Thank you!!

 

[sourland]

Being raised together provides the best scenario for mixing bantams and standard sized birds. Understand that if you have multiple roosters, there will eventually be some fighting. The degree may vary depending upon the individual temperments involved. Also if there are too many roosters, your hens may suffer excessive abuse. Welcome to BYC. It's a great place to be. Apply common sense to your poultry raising and things will be fine.

 

[chick a dee]

Thanks for your reply. I'm only planning on keeping one rooster, I'll wait and see what I've got and take it from there. Thanks!

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

I have a small flock of five, and no two chicks are alike. I wanted a visually apealling flock, because we are keeping them primarily as "pets".......because I am a huge bird lover, and love to watch them and interact, etc. So I didnt want a bland, all same type flock. Everywhere I read about it, said that standard and Bantams CAN and will live happily together, and that problems that occur will more than likely be flock hiarchy and individual bird temperment issues as apposed to breed/size issues. Plus, every breeder I spoke to said mixed flocks are the BEST way to go for a nice, people friendly socially well rounded flock. So far for me, it has worked out great. I got my original 4 from the same place, all around the same age. One passed away @ 5 weeks or so. Then when my chicks were about 8 weeks I got 2 more chicks aged 4 weeks. So now I have:

9 1/2 week old Easter Egger Hen
9 1/2 week old Buff Orpington Hen
9 1/2 week old Mille Fleur Rooster
5 1/2 week old Silver Laced Wyandotte Hen
5 1/2 Week old Plymouth Barred Rock Hen

All the hens get along fine, but the Rooster wants to KILL the younger two chicks....Im hoping that when they grow up, and they are twice his size, they will fight back and he will let it go, LOL But yes, the breeds dont seem to matter one bit. My larger girls respect the roo totally and completely! No problems to report as of yet!

 

[DrHoverbottom]

thanks for posting this, I was hoping to get a mixed (but small) flock and wondered about how that would work out.

 

[KimKimWilliamso]

Unfortunatly for me, lastnight and today I started witnessing some unpleasant bullying from the flock on my Buff Orpington. I had read a few days ago that BO's could easily be bullied in a mixed flock, and hadnt seen anything to suggest that was true in my case.....until now. She has to be seperated from them otherwise i fea they may kill her.