Not sure if you were asking me, the other folks who commented, or all of us, but I'll answer first here! I started with 22 chickens: 5 each of Easter Eggers, Golden Laced Wyandottes, and Red Sex Links; 2 Cuckoo Marans; 2 Speckled Sussex and 3 Buff Orpingtons. Three of the chicks turned out to be roosters - one of the Sussex, a Red Sex Link, and a Production Red that got sneaked into the mix as a Red Sex Link......they are now in freezer camp. Then I planned to process the 5 Wyandottes - mine were total bullies and had this gang mentality. If one was picking on another chicken the other four would come over to help her administer a beating, and none of them showed any mercy to their victim. I was just waiting for them to put on some size. The Buff Orpingtons were nice but the eggs were always so small. A neighbor had lost her entire flock to a wild dog just before they started laying. She's temporarily a "single mom" with 4 kids (hubby managed to get another DUI so he's out of the picture until he's finished serving his time) and was counting on the chickens and her garden to supplement the family's pantry because she doesn't want to end up getting assistance. So I had her come over here, we packed up the Wyandottes, two of the BOs, and her little daughter fell in love with the chicken with the polka dots, so the Speckled Sussex pullet found a new home too. I went over with a roll of hardware cloth and she and I repaired the weak spot in her setup, and I pointed out a couple of other things that should be changed. I told her about the issues with the Wyandottes but in their new surroundings she hasn't had any problems with them. I may have just had too many chickens in one space, leading to problems and the responsibility for that rests squarely on my shoulders. Peace has returned to my coop and run.
