New Pet Flock size

DobieClose

Songster
Jun 26, 2021
351
862
176
West Mansfield, OH
Good Morning!
As I’ve said in other threads, I’ve moved to 2 acres and want to get 2 goats, chickens, beehives and a bat house. Basically just as pets.
My question is, what is the smallest size flock of hens that you recommend?
I mean, how many are needed for them to feel secure and happy?
 
I agree, 3 is the absolute minimum so that if one dies, the other isn't left alone. Different breeds are okay as long as they are temperamentally compatible. Look up the breeds before you get them. Individuals vary within a breed, of course, which you can do nothing about. However, there are certain breed characteristics that do make a difference and should be kept in mind. Some breeds are more dominant, territorial or aggressive (with each other, not necessarily with people), and others are very meek and docile, low pecking order birds. If you put a dominant breed with a submissive breed, the submissive chicken will be bullied and you'll have problems. So try to get breeds that are more or less on the same level. Look up descriptions of how they relate to others in the flock, don't get hung up on words like "friendly", because "friendly" is often used to mean "people friendly". How they relate to humans doesn't always correlate to how they relate to each other. Some breeds are very social, sweet and friendly with people, but are brutal to less dominant members of their own flock.
 
I agree, 3 is the absolute minimum so that if one dies, the other isn't left alone. Different breeds are okay as long as they are temperamentally compatible. Look up the breeds before you get them. Individuals vary within a breed, of course, which you can do nothing about. However, there are certain breed characteristics that do make a difference and should be kept in mind. Some breeds are more dominant, territorial or aggressive (with each other, not necessarily with people), and others are very meek and docile, low pecking order birds. If you put a dominant breed with a submissive breed, the submissive chicken will be bullied and you'll have problems. So try to get breeds that are more or less on the same level. Look up descriptions of how they relate to others in the flock, don't get hung up on words like "friendly", because "friendly" is often used to mean "people friendly". How they relate to humans doesn't always correlate to how they relate to each other. Some breeds are very social, sweet and friendly with people, but are brutal to less dominant members of their own flock.
Oh Wow.
Any recommendations?
Good Morning!
As I’ve said in other threads, I’ve moved to 2 acres and want to get 2 goats, chickens, beehives and a bat house. Basically just as pets.
My question is, what is the smallest size flock of hens that you recommend?
I mean, how many are needed for them to feel secure and happy?
I have some chicken coop questions.
I don’t know if I should keep starting a new thread for my questions or not.
I don’t want to hijack someone’s thread about their specific coop but I can’t find a general question thread about coops. I’m not quite ready to start my shed conversion so a whole thread would be kind of a waste until I’ve researched some of the specific coop threads.
Does a general chicken coop thread exist?
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom