I live right outside the city and am going to start a chicken coop. Firstly I just wanted to make sure it’s okay to mix chicken breeds in a coop? Will this cause problems if they are of different sizes? The chickens I reckon I want are said to have very excellent temperaments and be friendly.
Anyway about the Silkies, I am going to buy from Ideal Poultry Breeding Farms inc. and because Silkies are hard to sex the chicks are not guaranteed a certain sex. The problem I am facing is that I do not want any fertilized eggs but because of the smaller size of this chicken and the possibility of coyotes (coyotes aren’t as likely because there are dogs, including mine, on our street) or raccoons attacking the could be rooster I would be worried of letting it roam around outside of the coop.
Is there something I can build it where I can just place him in there at night?
I mean this is all hypothetical but still I just want to know if I should get the Silkies or just give up on that.
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Part 1: It is okay to mix breeds. There will be some bullying at first, but this is to establish a pecking order. Make sure they have plenty of room though.
Part 2: You need a fencing around your coop so that your rooster can easily roam about without the danger of being killed. At night you could place them all in the same coop, I don’t see a problem. Why are you separating him?
You need to remember, chickens are flocking birds. They like company. Even if you let your rooster out, the chickens that are non broody will probably join him, and chickens feel much more safe knowing a rooster is around to check for danger and to find food for them. So it’s really excellent to have 1 rooster with your chickens.
I reckon your issue is the fertilized eggs. You don’t want chicks? Well just collect the eggs. If you don’t want fertilized eggs because you don’t want your chickens to go broody, not having a rooster won’t do any excellent. Chickens will still go broody on non-fertile eggs. Your only solution is to pick them up.
If I were in your place I would take 1 rooster + rest of them hens and keep them in 1 coop with some fencing to let them roam outside during the day. Just collect eggs to prevent them from hatching. Chickens will still go broody, even on dummy eggs like a golf ball.
Edit: I might reconsider your source. I don’t recall it being hard to sex silkies. Comb + spurs with nearly every single chicken species can be used for sexing.
I’m a small confused about your question, but i’ll do my best to answer.
I have raised chickens for about 10 years, and we’ve had many different breeds together, it is not a problem. The only time you might get issues is if you get a really large breed and a really small breed, but in general all breeds get along.
We’ve had quite a few different breeds, and in general the ones that have had the best personalities are the Silkies and the Cochins, personally i like Bantam Cochins the best. Silkies are also fantastic, the roosters normally have more simple going temperaments then other roosters, but the chicken’s personality all depends on how they are raised; the more you handle them the nicer they will be.
As for keeping them safe, you can chose to leave your chickens out loose during the day, or place them in a large pen, it’s your choice. But at night i would certainly recommend building or buying a coop. The size of the coop depends on how many birds you have, if you want nesting boxes in the coop or not, and if you want to place food and water inside it or not. The coop does not have to be fancy, it just needs to be secure, and huge enough for but many birds you get.
Hope this helps!
Silkies are no harder to sex than any other chicken if they use vent sexing. Otherwise if they only try to sex them by thing like comb and such I would not bother paying more for a group of females when they is such a high chance you’re getting ripped off. Though even with vent sexing you do get an occasional rooster.
if you are buying chicks of same age and are raisied together the likely hood of them getting along together is much better. but i found it simpler and with less problems to keep bantys and regular full size chickens separate after 2-3 months ancient. if you are looking for some nice quality silkies i suggest not ordering from any major hatcheries but rather check out yahoos group of awesome silkies i belive the right initals are asbc and they will help you in both raising and finding silkies in your area. a very nice and informative group. silkies are extremely hard to sex and nearly impossible at hatching by joining this group you may also be able to find adult silkies of the sex you are looking for.