Compatible chicken breeds

[HennyPenny44]

My husband and I are in the process of building our first chicken coop. It will be 4×6 with a 6×12 run. I plan on adding on a free range area once the coop and run are done (and we take a breather from building!). I'm looking to get 5-6 chickens, each of a different breed, for variety and so my children can identify them easily, The thing is, I want relatively quiet, docile chickens that are heat/cold tolerant, lay through the winter, that get along well with each other and are kid friendly. I live in a somewhat wet climate with cold winters and summer temperatures that usually don't go above the low 90's. I've narrowed it down to the following breeds:

Buff Orpington
Black Australorp
Speckled Sussex
Dominique
Barred Rock
Easter Egger
Olive Egger

My main concern is aggression between the breeds. I've heard that birds of the same breed tend to stick together and that Barred Rocks can be bossy/aggressive with other birds, especially if confined. Would this be a concern for someone with my coop and run size? Any breeds in the list above you wouldn't mix? I plan to order from Hoover Hatchery and raise them all together. Are their birds generally of good temperament? Thank you in advance!

 

[Ribh]

I think they should get on well together if raised together as flock mates. Orps do tend to drift to the bottom of the pecking order just because they are so sweet & docile. I'm not in the U.S so can't comment on hatcheries but I have both BAs & BRs in my mixed flock. They have dominant personalities but get on well with humans & within the flock & are generally sweet natured. I only had trouble with mine when I expanded my flock, but a certain amount of adjustment was always going to happen & it is sorting. I have found BAs tend to hog the food. Just be aware & monitor if necessary.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Nix the Barred Plymouth Rocks and get Leghorns and you’ll have a great flock.

 

[Callender Girl]

Most of the chicks I've purchased have been Hoover's birds, because they supply both of the local farm stores, and I've been happy with all of them.

In my experience, chicks that grow up together tend, for the most part, to get along well. My first four hens were a Buff Orpngton, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red and Sicilian Buttercup that had been hand-raised by a 4-H'er. Although the Buttercup was clearly at the bottom of the pecking order, there were never any real attacks on her, just an occasional peck to tell her where her place was.

The Orp and the Barred Rock both did fine in Iowa's goofy weather extremes, and as long as you don't get more chickens, your space will be adequate. That's where I always fail. Too many cute chicks at the store, too little square footage at home.

Among this spring's Hoover's buys were a Speckled Sussex and two Easter Eggers, so I am hoping for all of the things you are hoping for in terms of temperament and weather hardiness.

BTW, the Buff Orpington is the grand dame of my group. Although I've heard that as a breed, Orps are sweet and docile, Honey is not overly aggressive. But she is bossy and doesn't back down from anyone. As with anything else, there are always exceptions to the expectations!

Another example: My barred cochin bantam's best friend isn't the other cochin bantam; it's the Wyandotte they were both raised with.

Best wishes for your potential flock, coop and run. It all sounds like fun to me!

 

[50-45-1]

Have you raised chickens before?
All those breeds should get along fine but i think i should add some caution to your expectations.
No chicken lays all year long. All chickens will stop laying when it is time to molt (that once a year time to change feathers). And your chickens will likely slack off egg production in the winter and kick into high production in spring and early summer.
Every chicken has there own temperment and personality. You never know how those personalities will mix.you could get an overly timid one and an overly bossy one or just maybe end up with a group that gets along fine. There will always be a pecking order so be ready for that.
If your chickens are overcrouded, and i dont think your set up sounds overly big, there will be all kinds of trouble.
One breed you may want to add to your list is jersey giant. They are pretty nice calm chickens, they come in black , blue (grey) and white and you dont have a white candidate in your list.
Good luck and keep us updated.

 

[Callender Girl]

It's true that most breeds slack off in winter. However, my two Hoover's Sapphire Gems, which I purchased at the end of August, laid their first eggs in January and have each produced at least four eggs a week ever since. Most of the time, they've laid six to seven each a week. Also, one of my Salmon Faverolles also continued laying four to five eggs a week throughout winter.

But, yeah, the rest of the girls' production goes way down when it's cold out. I know I could probably up production with lights in the coops, but I figure they deserve a break. Shoot, I'm lazier in winter, too.

Will your chickens always be in a coop/run, or will they sometimes get to free range? Or have field trips in a tractor? Although I had "enough" space for my first four, I also added a 3-foot-by-10-foot chicken tractor that I moved around so they could access fresh bugs and greens. It was just a wood-frame "box" covered with chicken wire. They were only in it when I was able to keep an eye on them so it wasn't predator proof.

 

[FT Chickens]

My husband and I are in the process of building our first chicken coop. It will be 4×6 with a 6×12 run. I plan on adding on a free range area once the coop and run are done (and we take a breather from building!). I'm looking to get 5-6 chickens, each of a different breed, for variety and so my children can identify them easily, The thing is, I want relatively quiet, docile chickens that are heat/cold tolerant, lay through the winter, that get along well with each other and are kid friendly. I live in a somewhat wet climate with cold winters and summer temperatures that usually don't go above the low 90's. I've narrowed it down to the following breeds:

Buff Orpington
Black Australorp
Speckled Sussex
Dominique
Barred Rock
Easter Egger
Olive Egger

My main concern is aggression between the breeds. I've heard that birds of the same breed tend to stick together and that Barred Rocks can be bossy/aggressive with other birds, especially if confined. Would this be a concern for someone with my coop and run size? Any breeds in the list above you wouldn't mix? I plan to order from Hoover Hatchery and raise them all together. Are their birds generally of good temperament? Thank you in advance!

I have no help on what type of chickens to get, but my experience is the coop is too small. You will enjoy them so much you will want more. LOL. Have fun!

 

[TomZilla43]

I think you should be fine with any of the breeds that you listed. I have a flock of 7 w/ 3 Buff Orps, a Black Austrolorp, a Speckled Sussex, a GL Wyandotte, and a New Hampshire Red in my flock, all the girls get along fine. The BO's are a year younger than the rest of the flock so they are the bottom of the pecking order. But like someone else said chickens really do have their own personalities that don't always coincide with what breeders advertise or expect. That being said if they are growing up together the pecking order will be established along the way and that would happen w/o regard to whether they are all one breed or a mixed flock like you are wanting to establish. I really like having a mixed flock and wish I had an Easter Egger and a Black Copper Marans to add a lil more color to the egg assortment. Best of luck with your new flock, hope it all comes together wonderfully for you.

 

[Acre4Me]

Your coop and run space sounds adequate for the number of birds you intend to get and keep. The breeds also sound fine together - we have several of these breeds all seem fine (but we don't have orps).

I will note that we had 17 chickens in our fist batch of chicks. They were raised together from day 1. The one light colored chicken (an EE) was picked on more, and seemed to be shunned by the others. When they were about 6 months old, we brought home some chicks and specifically purchased some white ones, so that the EE was not the only light colored chicken. This worked well - once those chicks integrated with the flock around 5-6 weeks old, the EE was more accepted and the three light/white chicks were now running around, causing the light colored EE to just blend in, I guess. I've heard of others on BYC note that sometimes a chicken that stands out from the rest of the flock (coloring or feathering like a polish) gets picked on more.

With 6 chickens, and the run and coop space you have, I would not recommend a Jersey Giant. We have a male and female BJG. They are big - the largest breed of chicken per the APA standards. They will eat more too. They are docile, but the female is not the greatest layer. They will need a larger nest box, they will need a coop opening that they can get into morning and evening. Overall there are better choices for a small mixed flock.

Leghorns - amazing layers! But, in our experience, not as friendly and flighty. We had some exhibition quality Dark Brown Leghorns, which were beautiful! We ended up selling them because they were the least friendly, very flighty and couldn't seem to integrate into the flock very well (despite being raised with the others), besides the cockerel hated them. So, for their well-being we sold them to another family. However, my neighbor loves his leghorns - they are very reliable layers (even through winter), and he only has leghorns, so it works out well for him.

 

[HennyPenny44]

Thank you for all the very helpful replies! I'll try to answer everyone in one posting.

I guess I'm overthinking all the breed descriptions I've read and should just expect the unexpected, right? It's hard because I'm such a planner. I would love to have a bigger coop and run but we're building something that efficiently uses the 4×8 plywood pieces and the 2×4's we got. The expenses are adding up fast! It took a lot of convincing my husband to build the size we have because he just doesn't get why chickens need that much space or why I need that many chickens! We eat almost 2 dozen eggs a week after all, honey. It's his first outdoor building project as well as mine. I might try the chicken tractor idea at a later time or just do supervised free ranging within a fenced in area in front of the coop when possible. We have hawks, opposums and foxes in our area as well as a very prey driven dog so that's a concern. While I understand that chickens don't lay when moulting or lay less when temperatures drop, I've heard some breeds that are very cold hardy at least lay some eggs during winter. I might try the Salmon Faverolles or Sapphire Gem like someone suggested as I've had my eye on them too. Not really into the idea of nervous birds like leghorns or a giant chicken like the Jersey Giant. Just the idea of five to six 8 pound chickens in my modest backyard sounds pretty extreme already! Anyway, thanks for all the input. It's truly appreciated.☺