danceswithronin
Crowing
I am in the process of starting a flock of backyard chickens that will be mostly Silkies, 4 silkies + one mystery chick. I may (probably) will end up getting more chickens later, so I wanted to get some opinions. What breeds of chicken typically interact well with silkies? I've read that silkies are a small, docile breed that is likely to get picked on by other more assertive or larger birds, so I'd like to avoid that (and having to forcibly segregate the flock) as much as humanly possible.
I'd also like to get some chickens that have a reputation for being better layers than silkies to make up for their lack of production, and I'd like to get chickens that are less likely to try and fly over fences. I do plan on wing clipping all but the silkies but it would be nice to know they wouldn't make it over anyway. I live in a neighborhood and the last thing I need is one of my runaway chickens strolling down the sidewalk like they own the place.
One of my thoughts is to wait until one of the silkies is broody, then use that hen to hatch out a few fertilized eggs of another breed I like. That way I won't have any integration issues there.
A breed I had considered was the Orpington since they have a reputation of being very docile themselves, but they are so large compared to silkies it worries me they'll get beat up if I end up with an ornery one. Whichever breed I pick will be hand-tamed intensively though. I like several other bantam breeds but it seems like a lot of them are either broody (cochin) or flighty (Sebright), neither trait I need to extend my flock since I'll probably have a coop full of broody biddies anyway.
I'd also like to get some chickens that have a reputation for being better layers than silkies to make up for their lack of production, and I'd like to get chickens that are less likely to try and fly over fences. I do plan on wing clipping all but the silkies but it would be nice to know they wouldn't make it over anyway. I live in a neighborhood and the last thing I need is one of my runaway chickens strolling down the sidewalk like they own the place.
One of my thoughts is to wait until one of the silkies is broody, then use that hen to hatch out a few fertilized eggs of another breed I like. That way I won't have any integration issues there.
A breed I had considered was the Orpington since they have a reputation of being very docile themselves, but they are so large compared to silkies it worries me they'll get beat up if I end up with an ornery one. Whichever breed I pick will be hand-tamed intensively though. I like several other bantam breeds but it seems like a lot of them are either broody (cochin) or flighty (Sebright), neither trait I need to extend my flock since I'll probably have a coop full of broody biddies anyway.
