HELP! can I mix my older standards with bantams??

[13newbabies]

We have 4 hens and 2 roos that are exactly 1 year old, we are trying to introduce 6 new 17 week olds. The older girls are 3 Rhode Island Reds and 1 Black Sex Link. THe BSL is adorable and not the least bit aggressive with the babies, but those darn RIRs are stinkers and wont leave them alone. In the babies, I have 2 ameracaunas, 2 buff orps and 1 black silkie bantam,and 1 Polish crested bantam. Sadly, the polish crested is tormented constantly and doesnt EVER stand up for itself (hoping for hen, but does look a bit like a boy)when those RIRs go after it viciously, it literally justs lays down and cries. it is HORRIFIC to watch and I always end up saving her/him. I have been trying for several weeks, I started with them caged near each other, all day long and the older girls free ranging near the caged babies. then I allowed free range for all for several days, without too much problem, some brief attacks out of the blue by the big girls (on the babes) but nothing too bad. THen i put them all together in caged area outside the coop, things got worse, they beat the beans out of my sweet polish crested. I finally thought I had to bite the bullet and see how they did overnite and all day, and sadly, came home to find my black silkie badly beat up and laying underneath my sweet polish crested in a corner of the coop. They were both clearly traumatized, although the polish crested actually didnt appear injured, just the silkie. The other babes (ameracaunas and BOs were huddling in a corner, but didnt appear as traumatized as the silkie and crested. My husband keeps telling me I just have to "let them work it out over a few days" BUT, I cant do it, especially now that the silkie is actually at the vet overnite (yikes!) so tonite, I separated them all again (babes from big girls) and my husband swears I "blew it" "I need to let them work it out and stop saving them"..... SOOOO, is it even possible to intermix the older girls with these new babes, or is it just not going to work? Also, my poor polish crested , I honestly feel like he is "disabled", I think he is terribly hindered by his wild head feathers, he clearly cannot see the big girls (or anyone coming towards him) making him even more vulnerable... I feel like clipping his feathers back so he can see better, is this possible or what do you do with these nutty chicks whose hairdo is so out of control they cant see???

 

[PunkinPeep]

I don't know anything about polish chickens, so i'm not commenting on that question.

My thought when reading your post is that instead of pulling the polish and silkie out when they get beat up, i would pull out the meanest reds....maybe the two meaner ones, leaving the most likely to be gentle one in with the sex link and the little ones.

That will do two things - it will set them down in the pecking order a little by being separated for a day or something - and it will send a message (though chickens are sometimes pretty dense) that they will be separated when they beat up the little ones, instead of sending the message that you'll get the little ones out of their way when they beat them up.

Also, the little ones have a better chance of gaining some confidence against one mean red as opposed to 3 mean reds.

 

[13newbabies]

Thanks so much Beth! That is a great idea...I will definitely give it a try!! I appreciate your quick response!
Claudia

 

[PunkinPeep]

You're so welcome!

Be sure to let us know how it goes so we can all learn!

 

[saddina]

Chicken jail for a week should give the pecking order time to shuffle the younger set in, then when the RIR rejoin later, they'll be the "new" chickens.

 

[elmo]

I've read that Polish chickens are frequently targets of bullying: it's not only that those feathers make it hard for them to see trouble coming, but the feathered crowns seem to act like a "kick me" sign in chicken parlance. Poor things.