Types of Chickens in a Flock

[FLR]

I am sure this has been asked a gazillion times... I swear I searched and was unable to find a definitive answer.

Can I have different breeds in my flock? What is the minimum amount of 1 breed I can/should have? Could I safely have 1 chicken of a few different breeds. I have found a few breeds that have caught my interest and of course I want them all!

As I am sure you can tell I am new to this. I do have one Chicken (I believe she is a black star) that I acquired when I got married. She is 10+ years old and her mates have passed away so now she has made friends with our goats. I really want her to have friends (of the chicken variety) but I want to make sure I do it correctly.

Thanks!

 

[silkiechicken]

You can have as many different types as you want. Generally best to make sure you keep large standards together and small banties together as a 2 lb and a 10 lb chicken probably wouldn't be so good for the 2 lb one.

They will do some pecking but once a new order is set, takes about two weeks or so, they will get along just fine.

Since you have one sexlink, I would go ahead and get any standard size bird you like and slowly introduce them after quarentine, or raise up a bunch of chicks and put them together as adults.

Welcome and best of luck!

 

[kaacres]

We have all been new sometime. Take me for example...I have had chickens for a couple years now and still consider myself new. I have so much to learn. One thing that I did learn the hard way, is that New Hampshires have a tendency to become cannibalistic. So I would steer clear of them.

Just from my personal experience I have several different breeds and they all do well together. Except for the guinneas. They have free range and I have heard that they will bully even roosters. I left mine in with the chickens for a couple of days and they did okay. My chickens just wanted to know why the circus was in town.

And my 2 1/2 month old Aracaunas peacfully share their pen with my baby guinneas at night. But that will change when they get older. LOL

Hope this helps.

 

[hoosier]

I wish I had read this earlier. I got another dozen chicks last week and I picked up two New Hampshires. I have never had a problem with cannibalism, so if I do in the future I will know who suspects #1 & #2 are.

 

[kaacres]

Hoosier...
I have some New Hampshires still and they get along fine, so there is hope. I just have to be very careful when trying to introduce new birds, especially young. I bought 96 pullets last year and they took me down to 20 in a hurry! But once they are grown they seem to do okay. I tried to introduce my 2 1/2 month old Araucanas this weekend and it was definitely a no-go. They do the typical chasing but if they ever get on one, that is it they don't stop. I am going to take them to the auction and hope that somebody is just looking for some layers. They are excellent layers and I have a couple that are broody. In fact I just put some eggs under three of my hens, two RIRs and one NHR. So far the NHR is doing awesome! Don't dare try to mess with her eggs, she'll get ya. You should have seen me and DH trying to swap the eggs out in the middle of the night. She made us both bleed. But today she is covering all 10 of her eggs very well, can't see them at all. This will be our first attempt at a hatch so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

So New Hampshires do have very good uses and like I said not all are that way. Some of my girls are very sweet, it is just the little gang. So if you have just two I think you will be fine. My New Hampshire Reds outnumbered the others so they felt the power.

 

[hoosier]

kaacres - Thanks for putting my mind at ease.