I love my Speckled Sussex, Dotty! She’s curious, friendly, and not overly afraid of the older birds who are higher in the pecking order.
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I love my Speckled Sussex, Dotty! She’s curious, friendly, and not overly afraid of the older birds who are higher in the pecking order.
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Silver Grey Dorkings also lay bright white eggs and are really friendly, docile and gentle.
As for the breeds you mentioned, a YouTuber I follow(OmarGoshTV) had some and had no problems with them in a mixed flock. Personally, I have found that any animals that are raised together tend to get along fairly well. And as for your fence, I would suggest 6-8 feet in height(6' if clipped). As for calm friendly birds, I have Rhode Island Red's & they are big sucks if you spend the time interacting with them & are easily trained(we trained ours without even knowing how to beforehand).I am interested in the following breeds. I would get 2 of each and raise them together as chicks.
Buff and/or light Brahma, Silver-laced Wyandotte, Barred rock, buff Orpington, and Easter egger (because: blue eggs)
Brahmas were recommended to me because I am looking for breeds that are calm and docile, and less likely to fly or flutter over my 5 ft chain-link fence while free-ranging; I'm willing to clip wings. (It's not a huge problem if they do fly over the fence, but I'd prefer they didn't).
We have dogs that will share the back yard (not when the chickens are loose), and it'd be nice to have breeds that were less apt to be spooky/flighty. We also have young children, so a breed that was friendly and took treats from a gentle child would be a plus. Right now, I'm primarily interested in layers, though that may change in the future. Medium productivity is fine, or if some birds in the flock had higher productivity to even out the ones with lower productivity that would be okay too.
Coop will be 7 x 12 feet (not counting nest boxes). I don't plan to free range all the time. The run isn't built or finalized yet, but we have lots of space so it will be a minimum of 10 square ft per chicken, probably more. I'll make sure there's shade and a roofed section so they can get out of the rain, and lots of water, of course.
I'm completely new to chickens. Thank you for any insight you have the time to share!
I just created a checklist for anyone that is thinking of getting into raising chickens.Our first birds were RIRs. They were great. Very friendly towards us and each other. They would eat snacks from our hands and even jump up to get a snack if you held it out for them. I liked the personalities they had. Of course being our first flock they got a ton of attention from the get go.
We have 36 chickens and 7 ducks nowI just created a checklist for anyone that is thinking of getting into raising chickens.
We had 20 RIR's when we first started 2 years ago, but lost 6 to coyotes last summer, 1 to an accidental broken neck(startled when a part of a straw bail fell), and 2 killed by rats.We have 36 chickens and 7 ducks now
Oh wow! I wasn't that brave. I started with 6. A raccoon got into our coop when they were a couple years old. Dug under the door only completely killed 1 (which is too many)but messed up the egg laying for the rest for a long time. The rest are long gone but they were good birds. I will have to check out your list because I know I'm not done getting little chicks. I manage to talk my husband into at least 6 more every year.We had 20 RIR's when we first started 2 years ago, but lost 6 to coyotes last summer, 1 to an accidental broken neck(startled when a part of a straw bail fell), and 2 killed by rats.