Surprise!! We're getting chickens! What species to get?

[BantamoftheOpera]

Those breeds work great together, I've got one EE, One Plymouth Rock, and two RIR's in my flock plus a red sex link and a black sex link. They all get along great! The ones that are the most tame are the EE and the black sex link followed by the Plymouth Rock.

 

[dsqard]

Before you get them make sure you can have chickens legally on your property. I don't want to be a downer on such good news but it is always better to check first since you don't have them yet. I have read quite a few sad threads on here of people who had chickens and had to get rid of them. Look at county, city ordinances and check to see if you have a HOA and what it says. I was so glad that I checked before getting my chickens because I didn't have to worry about neighbors reporting me and getting in trouble.
BTW - Hope you are allowed to have chickens because they are a blast! And like other posters have said, be careful they are VERY ADDICTIVE!

 

[Yay Chicks!]

If you go to Mypetchicken.com, they have a thing where you can choose the traits you want in a chicken and it will come up with the best breed choices based on your preferences.

 

[awesomechickens]

I like bantams there small, easy to handel, and i have white bantam leghorns 5 months and 2 buff silkies 5 months.

 

[PetRock]

I have a mixed flock, also. We started with a Barred Rock, one week later added an EE, a Black Australorp, and a Gold Sex Link. Then a few weeks after that added another Barred Rock and two Silver Laced Wyandottes. Our oldest BR and the GSL are both laying and hopefully the EE and BA will be soon. My favorites hands down are the BRs. They have so much personality and interact with me more than the others. I will say that the GSL lays her egg everyday like clockwork and is much friendlier now that she is laying. I'm hoping that it will be the same with our others. They all get along fairly well with just the occasional peck or chasing of the younger three. Chasing the "babies" seems to be chicken sport for the EE. She is going to be shocked with the younger ones who are as big as she is now finally turn around and hold their ground.

 

[gryeyes]

Plymouth Rock - Barred - commonly called Barred Rocks - are great all 'round layers AND very personable chickens. Black Australorps are next on my list of friendly and good layers. I love my Buff Orpington, and I love all the rest of the birds in my flock (see my signature paragraph) but not as much as Betsy, Matilda and Buffy. (Shhhhh, don't tell the others!)

I love the EEs, too, for their eggs and their quirky personalities, but they aren't the friendliest, "handliest" (not a word, but they don't like to be handled much). They're a hoot to watch in the flock, though!

My mixed flock gets along very well. Everybody knows the divas and nobody picks on the lowliest hens that much. (Not even the divas.)

 

[Chickadee93]

Thanks for the replies!

Quote:
Yea we checked years ago because we used to keep quail, the only bird I remember we can't keep are pidgeons. Chickens are on the good list.

 

[bargain]

Quote:
I wish you were close by I'd love to put together a small flock for you! First off, please think of local breeders near you - small farmers perhaps where you can go see the parent flocks and decide how you like them. We keep all our breeds separated as adults but since we hatch wayyyyy too much we let them comingle as younguns. We really haven't seen any compatability problems with ours at all ......Enjoy!

 

[crosbygroup]

We have 4 girls. The BR Amy is the most friendly, followed by the RIR Annie. Shirley the Leghorn and Ari the EE are nice, but harder to pick up. All 4 are great layers we get 3-4 eggs almost every day. Shirley is the best layer and hardly ever skips a day (there is almost always a beautiful white egg waiting for us). Ari lays the fewest eggs (3 days on one off etc) but they are the largest eggs in the group and a beautiful light green/grey color. Amy and Annie lay brown eggs, Annie the RIR has slightly darker eggs then Amy the BR. From the 4 we get about 2 dozen eggs a week.

Why wait till spring? Start your addition, I mean adventure now.

 

[MakNugget]

UGH... I want more chickens. I must have contracted Chickenitis. I blame you all! LOL