Soon to be chickener

[gallo pinto]

I'm finishing up the coop. I'm hoping to be done by the end of this week because I think I'll be able to get some coop ready chickens then. I was originally planning on getting 4 Orpingtons, but my sister convinced me that the Easter Eggers are fun for the kids. Would it be a bad idea to get 3 Orpingtons and 1 Easter Egger? Should I get 2 and 2? I was thinking the reputation on the Orpingtons makes me think they wouldn't gang up on the odd one out too badly, but I've been wrong once before (I thought I made a mistake, but it turned out I was correct).

 

[Kessel23]

EE do not always lay a green or blue egg, if you get just one it might not lay "colorful" eggs. I would suggest getting 2 and 2 or just 4 of 1, i'm not an expert of Orpingtons but I know they are much bigger than a EE, i'm not sure if they would pick on a EE.

 

[Hufflefluff]

If they would all have been raised together, then 3 and 1 is fine. If you're getting the EE somewhere else, it will be younger/ older than the BOs, or they had been kept separately, get 2 and 2. And @Kessel23 is right- you never know quite what egg color an EE will lay, so having 2 is always fun. Good luck with whatever you decide on- starting out with chickens is so exciting

 

[Pork Pie]

Hello and welcome to BYC. Providing you have sufficient space for your birds, I see no reason why size difference should result in bullying and it's certainly not my experience.

 

[Plip]

I don't think you're going to have much issue with 1 EE and 3 Orpingtons, per se.

The only thing I wonder about, though, is what you mean by "coop ready chickens." If you mean more mature birds (as opposed to chicks), then there might be an issue of integrating them since they'll likely come from different sources and may be different ages. Doesn't mean it can't work, but it is something to keep an eye on.

 

[Sublight]

Welcome to BYC!
Orphingtons are pretty good chickens. You should be ok.
Can we see pics of the coop! I love pics of coops!

 

[Plip]

Oh, and welcome to BYC! Great to have you here!

 

[Lazy Farmer]

 

[K813ZRA]

Welcome to byc! You will enjoy being a new chick parent.

I have both Orpingtons and EE's and both are fine birds that I adore. As others have said, if you are getting them as chicks, no issues at all. If you are getting them as juvenile or mature birds it is a toss up, imo. My EE's are higher up on the pecking order than my BO's in all instances. So if anyone is going to get picked on it is the Orpingtons, based off of my birds anyway.

Having said that, I have integrated adult birds, of my own raising, into my flock three out of the past four seasons and have had reasonably few issues with chickens picking on other chickens so long as they have the required amount of space to distance themselves!

 

[gallo pinto]

I don't think you're going to have much issue with 1 EE and 3 Orpingtons, per se.

The only thing I wonder about, though, is what you mean by "coop ready chickens." If you mean more mature birds (as opposed to chicks), then there might be an issue of integrating them since they'll likely come from different sources and may be different ages. Doesn't mean it can't work, but it is something to keep an eye on.

They'll be 6-7 weeks old, both breeds are roughly the same age (I doubt they all hatched on the same day)