Can I mix bantam's with White Leghorns

[NCMayberry]

I bought 20 White Leghorns 3 weeks ago and have lost 2 so currently have 18
My wife went to a local market a week after I go these to get a feeder and picked up 2 day old bantams "Cause they cute LOL"
They are now 2 weeks old and my Leghorns are 3 and so much biggers. Will I be able to keep these 2 with the Leghorns? Is so when should I mix them into flock. Currently they are in a Brooder of there own due to being so much smaller

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Probably wait until the bantams are larger (I mean they are bantams though, lol) before trying to mix them with larger birds so its easier for them to be able to stand their ground and defend themselves if necessary.

 

[Pork Pie]

Probably wait until the bantams are larger (I mean they are bantams though, lol) before trying to mix them with larger birds so its easier for them to be able to stand their ground and defend themselves if necessary.

Agreed. In an ideal world, their integration would be helped if they were in the same brooder, with a wire partition, so they could see each other without physically interacting. When you do introduce them, try to ensure that they have a couple of feeding stations - it should reduce aggression / dominance. Again, this assumes that you space in your biggest brooder. Maybe once the littles no longer require a heat source would be a good time to integrate them.

 

[lazy gardener]

Do you have adult chickens? Depending on the size of your coop and run, you can start integrating the chicks into the adult flock any time between ages 3 weeks and 9 - 10 weeks. IMO, the coop and run need to be large enough to satisfy chicken social protocol, and be set up with plenty of escape avenues, places that the chicks can go without the adults being able to follow them, as well as multi height and out of sight areas for easy integration without bloodshed. Other folks will tell you to wait until the chicks are as big as the adults. But many of us have found that it actually goes much easier if the chicks are integrated before they start to get their cluck, or approach sexual maturity.

Now, as for the bantam chicks and their older leghorn flock mates: Along with the size issue is the fact that the leghorns are almost ready to be weaned completely off heat, while the bantam chicks will need it for at least 3 weeks. The bigger issue I see is that your leghorns are a Mediterranean breed which have a reputation of being flightier, and sometimes more aggressive. It depends on how spunky your bantam chicks are. Also, you might want to be aware that bantam chicks are usually sold as straight run. Those cute little chicklets may end up being roolets.