Can you have large fowl and bantam chickens together?

[cupman]

I was thinking about getting bantam chickens because I can't stop buying more and was wondering how they would do with large fowl. I have a LF rooster and was wondering if that would be a problem for the bantam hens. I'd like some but not if my rooster is going to hurt them while mating due to the size difference.

 

[Jloeffler]

There is another thread here which someone started late last week, I think. The gist of it was the majority said they mix fine as long as the roo isn't LF as he can injure a banty hen in his amorousness.

But I totally understand what you mean about adding more!! I keep eyeing the silkie hatching eggs...

 

[Angiebubs]

tagging onto this post: What is LF? I have 2 bantys and believe my Barred rocks are roos-will this pose a problem? And what can be done about it?

 

[cupman]

LF stands for Large Fowl. It is referencing any chicken that is not a bantam(I think). My rooster is a barred rock as well and he is a big boy, I would guess in the neighborhood of 10 pounds, maybe more. I am not very informed on bantam chickens but from what I understand they are all basically the same breeds as LF just genetically altered to be small. I could be wrong. So basically, it could be a problem if your barred rock rooster is LF, but if it's a bantam rooster then you should be fine.

shucks about the banties, I guess I will have to pass. My rooster would probably injure the girls.

 

[terryg]

It's easier to have a bantam roo and large hens than the other way around. I'd worry about my small bantams being trod on by a big roo. I keep bantams and standard hens together - but no rooster. You can see them on a live-streaming cam, www.HenCam.com. It's best to make some accommodations for the smaller girls. Provide a space that they can get into that the large ones can't (like under nesting boxes.) Provide roosts of different heights. Make sure your food and water is low enough for the small birds. If you have a lot of birds, have two feeders, as the bantams can be prevented access. Enjoy!

 

[Orchid]

I have a bantam roo with LF hens and they do just fine, but I would not try to put an LF roo with bantam hens. I had a production red roo that was quite large and he was really hard on my smaller LF hens, he would have killed a bantam.

 

[Pele]

It really depends on your flock, actually. Bantam roosters do much better when introduced to large hens because they are so busy making a nuisance of themselves with mating that they usually don't get bullied (it's hard to bully someone when you're busy trying to catch a break away from their advances).


Now, I personally had a flock of hens (no rooster), that pretty much almost killed little bantam hens that I tried to introduce to them. I tried introducing them for an entire month (through cages and such), and all I got for my trouble is feeling like a jerk when my bantams started bleeding from the bullying.

So, keep an eye on them, introduce them first through cages, and pray that you have a tolerant flock.