What's a good standard hen

Bisqit&Gravy

Songster
11 Years
Mar 14, 2008
352
2
149
After looking some more, I guess I should have posted this here. So, I copied and pasted:)


I'm getting close to ordering from Ideal b/c I can't find any female pekin ducks anywhere. Since I'm ordering I'll get some more chickens too.
Right now I have the two bantams and my huge silkie mix girl. Plus, the two bantam chicks that I will be finding homes for if they really are roos.
I will be ordering bantams but really want one standard size hen. I weighed Hashbrown(silkie mix) and she's 3.7 lbs. She gets along get with the 2 bantams.

I have a Meyer hatchery catalog I was looking through as reference and it has weights listed but I noticed the weights didn't match Ideal?? It has a few listed as docile but not much for the others.

Any suggestions to an easy going breed that will be close to Hashbrown's size?
 
There's not really many if any standard chickens that size and anyway you're not supposed to mix standards with bantams (thats what I heard, I don't have bantams... yet). The only breeds that would be close to that size would be game breeds and then your bantams could get hurt. Maybe if its just one it will feel outnumbered and it won't hurt them but I don't know for sure.
 
I have a standard Cochin with my bantams because the Wyandotte girls pick on her. She does great with with the bantam girls. Actually, my top hen out of all the girls is a bantam cochin.
This is my experience- The standard Cochins are very well mannered and seem to be somewhere from the middle to the bottom of the pecking order. The look huge because of their feathers, but they aren't as heavy as they look. Last time I weighed my Cochin, she was around 4lbs. Granted, the show quality Cochins can weigh much more than that, but I doubt a hatchery one would.
 
Hey thanks for the info. How old is your cochin?

Someone local mentioned cochins today. He said he has 2 hens with his bantams. Also has one ameraucana hen and 1 red star hen which I just found out has few names.
He said most of his bantams were raised with the bigger ones.

Both my guys are laid back. I didn't know at the time about intros and just added big ol' Hashbrown. They didn't do anything and kept doing what they were doing. Hashbrown joined in quickly to see what they were pecking the ground at.
 
you can mix what ever kind you want just add them when they are the same size

chicken_boy_kurt Bantam &Large Fowl go together fine (most of the time your top hen is a bantam)
 
I have bantams mixed with my standards and they get along for the most part but then they free range most of the day. The bantams do like to hog the nest boxes though.

Today I did notice some aggressive behavior from a Rhode Island Red (I think) towards the bantams. The RIR wanted in a nest box and reached in and grabbed three different banties by the scruff of the neck and pulled them out of the boxes. Then she sat in a different box. Go figure.
 
I love my marans. They are huge,but calm. In my general pen, I have bantams and standards. My bantams honestly don't realize they are small. I have had no problems. My large boss roo "papa", has mated my bantam hen. She is fine.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom