My chickens seem to segregate themselves by breed. I thought that was to be expected when all the Barred Rocks were the same brood and all the Buff Orpingtons were acquired together etc. However over the years I have added more chickens of pre-existing breeds and they seem to hang out with the others of their breed even though they are not the same age. For example I have Jersey Giants that aged three years, two and a half years and some new pullets and they are almost always foraging together, and the younger Barred Rocks automatically moved themselves into the coop with the older ones. Has anyone else noticed their chickens to be clannish?
Clannish Chickens
Mine are clannish, according to hatching group. My original four stick together. I hatched three Marans and they stick together. The others will not let them into the nesting boxes. They lay their eggs in a cat carrier. (We are working on another coop for them) I will be adding some others soon. We will see what they do~
I've noticed that too, porkpal. Not just with chickens though, my dogs tend to stick together by breed as well. I thought with the dogs it might be based on behavioural preferences...but with chickens?
I thought it was just my girls... :)