Housing Standard White Sultans, Standard Polish, Standard Cochins Together

[Brandi Lee]

Hi everyone Hopefully I have posted this in the correct place. .my question is I am expecting some standard White Sultans, Standard Polish, and possibly some standard Partridge Cochins as well. All will be arriving together from the same place if all goes accordingly. I will have 9 White Sultan females and one White Sultan Male, 6 Polish which will consist of 2 buff laced females, 2 white crested blue females, one silver laced female, and a single white crested blue male. .then hopefully if I'm able to I'll be getting 2 Partridge Cochin females. My question is can these Standard breeds be housed together as a mixed flock? they'll be raised together. .None are bantam all are standard breeds. I'm going to keep them for pet purposes and of course egg purposes, but mainly as pets.​

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

As long as your set up is large enough not to cause stress and pecking behaviors they should be fine together.

That's a lot of crested birds, sometimes they need special attention like crest trimmings.

My polish have always been great layers.

 

[Brandi Lee]

I absolutely love the crested breeds, this is my "dream flock" and I have been doing lots and lots of research. The only research I couldn't find is if cochins could be housed with these two breeds due to the fact that these two breeds have vaulted skulls and the bone in the crests can sometimes grow together and some might not and a sharp peck to the head can cause injury and that their heads also are pretty sensitive. Crested breeds are in fact more prone to head trauma and brain injuries believe it or not. I was curious given what I know if people have indeed mixed these birds in with their flocks and have they been okay or had great results having the birds housed together. I've talked to breeders where they too have in fact have raised Silkies along side of standard cochins without fail but see I don't just have a little bit of crested birds I have quite a few. They will be raised as day old chicks together and I was just curious if anyone else has had any luck. .thank you very much for responding to my question all feedback and answers are greatly appreciatedYes, I know about trimming the crest feathers away from the eyes. I watched a video from Gretchen Sweetheart Silkies on youtube where she shows how to safely do this and I am prepared to trim the crests appropriately. I've always dreamt of having chickens and the breeds I love are White Sultans, Polish, and Sikies. Since Silkies aren't an option where I live I also love Cochins and just really wanted to have a really nice flock of birds and I am super super excited. Thank you for also letting me know about how well yours lay eggs, that was going to be my next question as to how good of layers are polish breeds because I've heard a bunch of different things. What size eggs do polish lay? ​

 

[KentuckyRooster]

They should be fine. I have kept a huge mixed flock of polish and bantam cochin and all sorts of things.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I absolutely love the crested breeds, this is my "dream flock" and I have been doing lots and lots of research. The only research I couldn't find is if cochins could be housed with these two breeds due to the fact that these two breeds have vaulted skulls and the bone in the crests can sometimes grow together and some might not and a sharp peck to the head can cause injury and that their heads also are pretty sensitive. Crested breeds are in fact more prone to head trauma and brain injuries believe it or not. I was curious given what I know if people have indeed mixed these birds in with their flocks and have they been okay or had great results having the birds housed together. I've talked to breeders where they too have in fact have raised Silkies along side of standard cochins without fail but see I don't just have a little bit of crested birds I have quite a few. They will be raised as day old chicks together and I was just curious if anyone else has had any luck. .thank you very much for responding to my question all feedback and answers are greatly appreciatedYes, I know about trimming the crest feathers away from the eyes. I watched a video from Gretchen Sweetheart Silkies on youtube where she shows how to safely do this and I am prepared to trim the crests appropriately. I've always dreamt of having chickens and the breeds I love are White Sultans, Polish, and Sikies. Since Silkies aren't an option where I live I also love Cochins and just really wanted to have a really nice flock of birds and I am super super excited. Thank you for also letting me know about how well yours lay eggs, that was going to be my next question as to how good of layers are polish breeds because I've heard a bunch of different things. What size eggs do polish lay? ​

My best layers are my buff laced polish. They lay as good as my Ancona. Polish eggs in general are large for the size of bird. I often wonder how they get them out.

I have all kinds of breeds with my polish, none are anymore prone to pecking than others. My large cochins are fairly meek.

I have kept silkies and bantam cochins together without problems. I had one silkie with a vaulted skull who did get pecked in the head when young by the other silkies. She became a special needs chicken that I needed to watch out for.

Polish are goofy little birds, your flock should be an interesting one.

 

[aart]

If your goals is only pretty birds that lay eggs and not breed/hatch,
I'd only get one male(or none) unless you have lots of space in both coop and run.
One male can be a challenge for the inexperienced keeper,
two males can quadruple the trouble.

Got good plans for a big coop and run?

 

[Brandi Lee]

Yes, I have plans for a large coop and a large run. I've purchased books from both a catalog and websites, along with step-by-step guides on exactly what to build for the amount of chickens I'll have. A few people have requested if I'd sell fertile hatching eggs in which I'm not opposed to but with eggs from what I've read it's a hit and miss. .you can never guarantee hatching rates and you've got to be careful that the eggs aren't tossed and jumbled around during transport. So I told the woman whom lives further up the road from me that I would be willing to sell fertile eggs when the time comes but I cannot guarantee hatch rates. When I look at breeding as a whole I don't look at fertile eggs as breeding due to the fact your not really raising chicks. I have researched all aspects before I considered having chickens and picking out chickens and I have a local breeder who is willing to mentor me should I need advice or help, she wasn't too experienced with housing standard Cochins, Polish, and white Sultans together. She separates her breeds due to showing and white Sultans aren't common in my area and to be honest polish aren't either lol . So, she recommend that I come onto backyard chickens and look to see if I found anything on housing a mixed breed flock that included Polish, White Sultans, and Standard Cochins, which I could not so I started this thread.She let me know housing the two roosters should be fine since they're being raised from day old baby chicks. .plus there's more than enough hens between the two males. I do appreciate your feedback and I have really looked into all aspects before I made the decision on purchasing chickens. I've looked at the pros and cons to being a chicken owner and made sure that I have enough time to dedicate to the flock along with finances for proper feeding, shelter, and care.

 

[aart]

Be careful with books and catalogs about housing space, most are pretty tight, more along the lines of factory farming for sqft per bird.
Here on BYC 4sqft in coop and 10sqft in run is a minimum 'rule of thumb',
tho hard numbers do not take into account other variables,
it's not a bad starting point.
Good article linked in my signature about 'space'.

Keeping males separate with their same breed females will be necessary for hatching eggs to be pure breeds. It is breeding, as your managing the fertilization, even if you're not hatching them out.

Males raised together, with plenty of females, does not guarantee males won't be fighting.

Best of cLuck with your research and planning!

 

[Brandi Lee]

I realize that keeping males separate would keep the lines "pure bred" but I'm just wanting a flock of my own and while it may seem silly but I wasn't really up for breeding just the enjoyment and love for the chickens. I realize that keeping two roosters could pose as a challenge it's one I'm ready and up for, I have chicken experience as I've been around my in-law's chickens for over 10 years and I always enjoy going out and visiting with their chickens, my mother in-law has quite a large property and houses at least four roosters and they get on very well. She doesn't free range due to red tail hawks, Possums, field rats, raccoons, stray dogs, mountain lions, and bears. They're confined to a large lengthy coop, the house looks nearly like a large shed and her run is extremely huge. I don't have experience with my own, but that's going to change when I receive mine. I do have common sense and chicken know how, I didn't go into wanting chickens of my own blindly of course. What peeked my wanting chickens was being around my mother-in-law's as I've had to take care of them while she was out of town and just completely fell in love with their corky personalities and how neat it was to sit, interact, and watch them. The roosters live in the same coop and run, her flock is mixed and quite a variety I must say. I could spend hours just sitting attentively and watching them lol I'm sorry to those if I gave the impression I was going into this half cocked as that's not the impression I was trying to give. I do have experience with chickens but only from an outside stand point meaning that I have taken care of them for many months at a time (my mother in-law's) and I do have outlets including here on backyard chickens but I just want to learn more from the experience of others. The chickens in which I decided to purchase were ones that I knew will thrive here, we plan on building a coop to keep predators such as: Possums, Skunks, Raccoons, Owls, and the red tail hawks out. Where I live Bear and Mountain Lion don't venture so that's a good thing as we live in a neighboring community, we're not considered city limits though and don't have zoning regulations meaning that chickens roosters hens ect. are allowed and they are absolutely everywhere. Our neighbors all have chickens and it's actually beautiful because in the mornings you can hear all the roosters have their little crow offs every morning lol I love crested breeds so my flock is mainly crested breeds along with the exception of the two Partridge Standard Cochins. I'll post pictures they will be arriving May 14thThank you for your comments and feedback it's greatly appreciated and I'll definitely check out the links you've put in your signature. ​