Bantams, do they need special treatment?

[ChickieBooBoo]

I am hopeing to get some bantams for our new coop. I've had standard for a few years now so I'm assuming bantams are treated mostly the same. Do they need more heat in the winter, they coop will probably be about 5-10 degrees C during the winter, is that ok for bantams? Do they need special feed or anything? Or does layer ration work for them? Any information would be greatly appreciated!

 

[gryeyes]

Unless they're particularly delicate bantams (a breed that's not cold hardy or something) but are just bantam versions of other breeds, you really treat them pretty much the same as large fowl, except that your waterers and feeders might be set a tad bit lower for them to use. Same feed, same housing situation only you can put about twice as many of 'em as you could house large fowl... SWEET!

What bantam breeds are you considering?

 

[gritsar]

Special treatment I give my accidental bantam brahma (in a flock full of LF brahma)? Hmmmm, oh yeah....I have to give her special treatment to keep her from beating up my big brahmas too often.

No, I don't give her any special treatment.
Come to think of it, I don't give my silkies - Jethro and Ellie Mae - any special treatment either. They are the only two bantams in my juvenile flock that also includes cornish Xs.
I do agree with Linda however that there are certain bantams that are more delicate and could possibly require extra care.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

One thing I'm more careful of is (because I have a lot of little coops) to make sure I pack enough chickens into the coop to keep them warm. For example, I had 3 silkies in a coop by themselves. I just moved them to be with the other 8 silkies, because I was worrying about winter. But if it had been large fowl, I wouldn't have worried.

I have noticed that the bantams take awhile to get big, so you wouldn't necessarily be able to integrate them with the large fowl as soon as if the new chicks were LF.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

They would be in their own seperate coop and run, away from the larger breeds housed with only other bantams. I really like Japanese bantams, so I'll probably have a lot of them, aswell as other breeds, not sure which ones yet! What are some breeds that are more delicate? Just to know.

 

[Pheonix]

I have Silkies with EE and RIR's and there's no problems. The Silkies actually snuggle up to the EE and they keep each other warm at night. I would throw them together and see what happens. If they get picked on to much then you can separate them, but I'd think they would be fine.