Bantams and large breeds

[meowtakkun]

Hi! My boyfriend and I are about to order some chickens from Meyer Hatchery. I believe he is getting a few eggs and a few chicks of the leghorn and barred rock breeds. A well as a few Jersey Giant chicks. He is raising his with the end goal being food, but will continuously hatch these breeds as needed.

I would like a few pet bantams that would be kept in the same coop as a few of these other breeds. I've heard many good things about mixing bantams with larger breeds when raised together, but I've also heard that larger breeds have less problems with hens and with "normal" looking breeds.

And the bantams are all straight run, so I'm not guaranteed hens only. I reeally wanted to raise mine from eggs, but they only sell assorted bantam breeds when you buy eggs, so I wouldn't even be guaranteed a certain breed.

Am I better off getting the hatched chickens of a certain breed? I like the easter eggers and the welsummer. But I'm also fond of the silkies, cochins, and belgian bearded. However I'm worried that they might be more likely to be targeted because of their feathers.

Any advice?

 

[LadyVictorian]

I would say with the breeds he is getting and the breeds you want they might not mix too well. Silkies and Cochin's are very docile and prone to being picked on, even picked on to death if a chicken is overly dominant. You could order standard sized cochin, welsummer, and easter egger hens and they should be alright with the larger hens. They might still get picked on but at least they would be large enough to defend themselves better. You would also still get nice sized eggs for eating from them as well. The silkies will be hard though as they are very small and have poor vision due to their fluff crests.

 

[meowtakkun]

Poop. You think even barred rock bantams would get picked on too much? I just love the small chickens so much

 

[LadyVictorian]

Would depend on how bossy it is. My old bantam rooster was a bossy guy and ruled the roost but then again the largest chickens he lived with was a standard Polish hen which is another very docile breed and much like the silkies have poor eyesight due to the crests. He had no problem putting the Doberman Pincher in her place though. Some little bantam's think they are bigger than they are. Silkies tend to be super super docile though as the norm though some people have had evil silkies. That is more the exception than the rule. The 4 I currently have I can't imagine them being too great at defending themselves. They can't fly or get high off the ground, can't see very well without a ponytail in their crests to hold up their feathers, and are super tiny. Something that can fly to get away though like a barred rock bantam would probably fair better since it can get itself off the ground better than a silkie could. I would still watch the little one around the older hens as they hit maturity though just in case someone decides the little chicken doesn't need to eat with them. Could help to have multiple feeders too. Even just with my 4 silkies I have 2 feeders because the two roosters fight over a feeder otherwise. Same with the waters. I have one water per 'group' of chickens. That way no one can 'guard' the feeder like my snot bugger Yuki was doing. He would stand on the feeder and peck everyone else coming to eat there.

 

[meowtakkun]

Thanks for replying! I think I'll get the barred rock or Easter egger bantams and just keep an eye out. All else fails I'll build them a separate coop I suppose. I've read posts where people had silkies with large breeds no problem but I didn't know they had poorer eyesight so I'll play it a little safer. Plus they don't seem to lay as much as others. Thanks again!