Can you keep bantams, and standards together?

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I think it very much depends on the breeds you choose and your set up.
I've never had much luck keeping my Silkies with other fowl. They tend to get picked on, end up with their crests picked off or the standard sized roosters try to mate them which results in injuries. I have quite a few coops and lots of space, so I keep them separate. Lots of people keep them in a mixed flock, its just never worked for me.
Faster bantams, like the Seramas you're considering, will probably be okay. Crested breeds like Silkies and Polish have a tendency to get bullied because they're docile and don't see well enough to escape. Maybe if you go with hatchery quality Silkies, which don't usually have large crests like breeders birds, you'll have a better chance of success.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Honora]

I think it depends on the personalities of your chickens. I had 2 EEs and a Silkie. The EE's were with the Silkie from the time they were 8 weeks old or so, but after they grew up one of my EE's turned aggressive and attacked the Silkie. The Silkie was not good at defending herself and ended up dying from her injuries. I have heard of other cases like this as well, so I would be very careful about mixing Silkies and large fowl.

 

[Honora]

That said, I am hoping to mix bantam Orpingtons with my Wyandottes next year, we'll see how it goes. Good luck with your flock!

 

[Bill1st]

thanks everybody. The order is placed and the chicks will be here in a couple months. Question, how can you tell the baby chicks apart (that is the bantam vs standard size. I got the same kind of chicks in bantam and full size.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Don't worry, the difference will be pretty obvious when get them. The bantams are usually half the size as the standards. They'll look like little miniatures of the standards, even as little puff balls

 

[Bill1st]

even as chicks?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Even as chicks. I have some bantam and standard eggs in my incubator right now. If they all hatch as I hope, I'll come back to this thread and show you the size difference They've still got 11 days to cook, so it'll be a while!

 

[Bill1st]

that would be great. Thanks!

 

[SFrati]

Even as chicks. I have some bantam and standard eggs in my incubator right now. If they all hatch as I hope, I'll come back to this thread and show you the size difference

They've still got 11 days to cook, so it'll be a while!

How did that hatch turn out? I would love to see the size difference as chicks. I am going to be incubating standard leghorns, bantam orpingtons, and bantam americaunas with my kindergarten class. The eggs will arrive on Tues and the hatch will be done at the end of March. I'm so excited I cant stand it!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I completely forgot to come back and update this thread, sorry! The hatch went okay, not the greatest. I did end up with 2 Sizzles and 4 EEs, but I'm not sure the pictures I have of them show their difference in size. Since I forgot, I didn't think to get pics of each size side by side. This isn't my picture, but it shows the difference between some breeds well:

The text that came with the picture stated that these are a Japanese bantam and a standard buff Orpington. These were the only pics I took before I sold the Sizzles:


The Sizzles up front in this picture, making it appear larger than it actually was. That red chick actually dwarfed the Sizzles by quite a bit!