What breeds can I safely add to this flock??

[FluffyChic]

Hello! I am very new to BYC and we've had our chickens for about 6 months now. We got 8 day old chicks back in July, they are 4 Buff Orps 4 Barred Rocks-all hens. Some just started laying about 1 1/2 weeks ago. We just added a BR Rooster to the flock on Jan 1st, because we'd like to get into hatching some too. I have thoroughly enjoyed this chicken raising way more than I thought!! The only problem is that I'd like to add more to my flock, but not sure what would be okay in the same living space, if any. We have a house for them up off the ground and a run attached and is plenty of space for all 9 of them, probably space for another 4-5 comfortably. They also are allowed to free range about 5 days a week. That being said, I'd really like to get some grown bantams-of any breed-but I like the silkies, or add some more hens such as Wyandottes or something else that would get along with this flock. Aside from keeping them separate to start with and get used to each other-can I safely have some others added that wouldn't get tore up by the others?? My dh worries if I were to get bantams that they'd not survive in the same area?? Also, I know they say only one rooster for 8 hens is plenty-but are there any other kinds of roosters that'd get along or should I make my additions just hens(which is fine by me). Any advice would be helpful and sorry for the long post!!
Thanks!

 

[BarredBuff]

I would not get any Bantams because theymight cause problems with your standard breed. I have 19 hens and two roosters and if I had more roosters they would fight alot because of breeding rights so I would add just hens.

 

[FluffyChic]

Thank you BarredBuff! Any other info would be greatly appreciated too.

 

[Mahonri]

How can you live without colored eggs?

Get some Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas or some Black/Blue Copper Marans.

 

[randomchick]

We have all kinds and sizes of chickens mixed together. When we bring a new chicken in, big or small, we have three steps.
1- Quaranteen in a seperate side of the property for 1 month.
2- We put them in the same coop/outside pen, but seperated by mesh from the others.
3- We switch the chickens(especially roosters) from the 2 pens for a few days. There seems to be very minimal dominance this way.
Hope this helps, it has for me.

 

[Akane]

Those aren't agressive breeds so you can add most anything. I'd just stay away from adding something like RIR which are known to be agressive. Barred rocks do fine with bantams. I suppose a BO roo might be a bit big and cause injury attempting to mate but if you only have hens you can add bantams just fine. Bantams and standards can mix without problems so long as you watch out for heavy roosters trying to mate very small hens. The only roosters I tend to keep around are bantams and then 1 or 2 of my standards which are actually mutts so I don't know which standards would get along. My japanese bantams and d'uccle crosses get along no matter how many roos I have. Even if the roos don't fight though you do want to be careful of them mating the hens too frequently. You'll have bald backed hens if you get too many roos and they aren't very careful while mating.

 

[FluffyChic]

Quote:
Well, we did just get a BR Roo a couple days ago and I'm wondering if he'd hurt the bantams?? He is quite a bit bigger than the BR hens.

 

[Akane]

My barred rocks were fine with the bantams. I just didn't want to keep any other standard roos but my dark brown layers. Those roos do injure bantam hens but my bantam hens don't stand any higher than the tops of their legs so there is a huge size difference. Aside from more agressive standards or heavy roos (BO are a heavy breed) with very small bantams like the true bantams which mostly only reach 2lbs in size they all get along fine together. I've hatched eggs that are a mix of my big roos and some slightly larger bantams and those bantams have suffered no injuries from living with the big flock. I only seperated my very small ones like japanese bantams and seramas because of the big roos.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

We have a mixed flock of bantams and large fowl birds and have never had any problems with that. Of course they will be picked on, because any new bird will be picked on. I have one Wyandotte and she is very docile. I've heard 'dottes are supposed to be docile.

Bantams and large fowl CAN survive together. The only problem I see is that the BR rooster will most likely try to mate with the bantam hens and that could kill them or cause injury. I've only ever had bantam roosters and I have never worried about them hurting hens, because the hens are either roughly the same size, or larger. And yes, bantam roos can successfully mate with large fowl hens.

As far as other breeds of rooster, you'll get mixed answers. There is no one breed that is 'perfect' and I find it's all in the individual and how that particular bird is raised. If you want bantams, I'd think the BR roo would have to go.

 

[SunAngel]

My Australorps, Cochins and Light Brahmas are some of my hardier but sweeter breeds and would probably be fine to add into your group. Easter Eggers or Ameraucanas would also do well.

I have many different breeds together, they all get along great, but my bantams are housed separately.