bantams not getting along with rest of flock

[mudchicken]

I have a flock of 4 leghorns and 4 nhr's. i just acquired 7 bantam chickens. they are about 2 months old. the problem is the nhr's (more than the leghorns) are chasing the poor little things around

. what could i do? will they kill them? i just dont wanna see them get hurt. any input is much appreciated. thanks

 

[Falcon61]

yes the will kill them. Take them out and let the mature 2-3mo. then put then back in at night so they wakeup together. Then they'll stand a better chance at surviving the pecking order rulers. or seperate them permanetly. Big difference in size. My one bantam hangs out at the nesting boxes trying to eat eggs all day. To smart for her own good.

 

[Chilebound]

I had the same issue this spring as my Bantam order ended up being exactly a month after my standards. I had them in and out a few times with the others, but the bigger and older stanard seemed to think that the Banty's were food that runs fast. I ended up setting up the tractor and a small cage next to each other for a few days, then added them again. This helped a lot--not everyone was chasing them, but some still did. I would come and find the bantams hiding under something that the standards couldnt get under. The finals solution came one day when I decided to try freeranging. I turned the Bantams out first for a few days so they knew the lay of the land first--then one night stuck them in the tractor with the standards. early that morning I let them all out to free range together and I never have had another problem. They are now a truely mixed lot with absolutely no problems tween the two. They have been banned from freerange for a while as they started to eat everyones tomatoes, so they are back together in the tractor --but still no problems!

 

[chickgirl8313]

I had this issue when i tried to combine two flocks after i lost some to dogs... they beat my black crested polish rooster almost to death so i seperated the chickens for about 3 weeks and then put them together and have had no issues since... they roosted apart but ranged together... they are slowly accepting each other but no more evil fighting as before.. they will always pick peckin order but if they are pulling out feathers and causing blood yeah seperate them polish seem like a weak/fragile breed anyway...