Can I Keep Different Chicken Breeds Together? — Chickens in a Minute Video - Backyard Poultry (2024)

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Join Backyard Poultry magazine in our video series, Chickens in a Minute, as we answer frequently asked questions about how to raise a healthy backyard chicken flock. Today’s video answers can I keep different chicken breeds together and gives some tips on how to pick the right chicken breeds for you.

Can I keep different breeds of chickens together? The short answer to this is, yes. Different chicken breeds can live successfully together in what’s called a mixed flock. But a mixed flock does take some consideration. For instance, some breeds are known to be very docile and calm, while others have a more dominant personality. You may not want to combine the two.

Also, different chicken breeds lay different colored chicken eggsand different amounts of eggs. So if you want lots of white eggs, you may not want to have many Rhode Island Reds in your flock since they lay lots of brown eggs but within breeds, you can find avariation of feather color. For those white eggs, you may want to consider combining types of Leghorns like Pearl Whites, Brown, and Exchequer.

Another factor to consider is the weather. Some breeds do well in cold and others in warmth. Luckily there are many that do well in both.

So a mixed flock of different breeds of chickens is definitely a possibility, it just takes a little homework to make sure everyone is well-suited to live together.

These videos are a great reference for both new and experienced chicken owners alike. Check out more Chickens in a Minute from Backyard Poultry magazine.

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Originally published in 2015 and regularly vetted for accuracy.