Introducing bantams : help needed!

[ManueB]

Hello to everyone,
I have a flock of six 2 years old hybrid layers who grew up together in our place. 4 days ago an old farmer from our village surprised us by giving us a couple of very young bantams, I have no clue what age. I quickly searched everything I could on introducing new hens but things are being very difficult.

Our idea was to put the bantams in a small pen at the entrance of the coop so they can see the flock but are protected, and we take them in the coop at night once every one is asleep and back in the pen before they wake up in the morning.

The problem we ran into is that the bantams fly very well and very high, and also they are so small they can go through our nets so they are able to escape from the pen and from our big run. The cockerel seems ok. However the lady gets very anxious before night because she doesn't feel safe in the pen and the first night she escaped, was badly chased by our other girl's, and just flew away and spent the night in the wild. We searched for her a whole morning and in the end found her perching in a fig tree just under the run.
This was 4 days ago. The following days were somewhat better, but yesterday when we went to pick her up to put her in the coop she wasn't asleep and she escaped again. When had to chase her around the run until my partner could catch her.

So now I'm getting pretty anxious because the weather is turning and we will have snow next week, so we need to have them able to stay in the coop. Also, the lady is terrified of humans and for now when we try to bribe her with scratch she just screams and try to run away.

So any suggestions? I've started to let the two of them have a look at the run by locking up the other girl's in the coop and they seemed calm and they went back by themselves to their pen, but as soon as the other girl's are out again, or if we try to approach the little lady all hell breaks loose.

Here is a picture of them in case some of you are able to have a guess at their age. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for any advice you can give!

 

[The WinterWolf]

hmm. i'd say 3-5 months old.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not going to guess age other than they do look pretty young but are fully feathered so they can handle cold as well as your older hens can. I don't know how cold it will get but their needs are the same as your older girls, decent ventilation but protection from cold winds. They are still immature so they can't hold their own against the older girls in fights. That photo did help, thanks for that.

I don't know what your facilities look like. How big in feet or meters are your coops and runs if you have more than one. What do they look like, especially the inside of the coop? Just trying to get an idea of what you have to work with.

The way I'd approach this would be to build them a predator safe and weather acceptable area so they can live side by side with the adults so they can get acquainted but can't get to each other. And so they can't escape. After they have gotten used to that being the place where they sleep, probably a couple of weeks at least, you can try mixing them with the older girls t see what happens. During that time spend some time with them. That pullet especially is pretty wild. You don't have to be in the pen with them but get them used to you being around and not threatening them. Put some special treat in a specific bucket or container and get them used to you bringing a treat. Use a specific container and chant something like "here chicky chick" when you are giving them that treat. Be calm and move kind of slowly so you don't frighten them. If you do that two or three times a day for a couple of weeks they should get a lot tamer, maybe even come to you when you call them or have that bucket.

After they have calmed down and are no longer afraid of you (probably won't take as much time as you think with food involved) let them mingle with the adults when you can observe. The more room they have the better. Base what you do on what you see. If they're getting beat up you may need to keep them isolated from the girls for a longer time. Don't expect them to be one cuddly flock, they will probably stay separate if they have enough room. Let them sleep where they want to as long as it is predator safe and not your nests. When these mature they will become one flock but that may take months. That's why I talk about room so much, the more room they have the easier this is.

If you can I'd also fix that run so they can't get out, maybe with bird netting attached with zip ties over the wire or however you can do it. That won't keep predators out but it will keep the chickens in. Until they mature enough to sleep with the older girls they may look for other places to sleep, like trees.

Good luck.

 

[Banana01]

She looks like mine, i got mine about the same age as yours is now. It was another couple months or longer before she laid eggs. Here she is today, she is a grandmother but still likes to raise broods and lays eggs.

It is rough for the bantam hen. She needs her own little private place, with a little box to sleep in too where she can lay.

Here are a few of my bantam hiding spots. They really need their own space, and will lay eggs on top of the other hens if they have to share boxes.

 

[ManueB]

Thanks so much for your replies, this was so helpful! I have to say I'm relieved because I was kind of scared that they vere only 6 weeks old, they are so tiny.

She looks like mine

Yes indeed . Your grandmother bantam is still very pretty. I'm afraid our pullet is not the kind to hide! She thinks she is a lion, she attacks and then runs / flies away, and screams all day at our hens from behind her pen! Today I made them a tiny entrance so they can get out and back to safety in the pen but the other girl's can not.

Tonight went much better because I finally understood why she went in panic mode before going to sleep. They were used to roost very high (at the farm they came from all the birds slept in a huge shed on a perch 4 m. high) and the perch we made them was just too low. I raised it to 2m high and everything went fine, then I carried them in the coop once they were asleep.

I don't know what your facilities look like. How big in feet or meters are your coops and runs if you have more than one. What do they look like, especially the inside of the coop? Just trying to get an idea of what you have to work with.

Ridgerunner thanks so much for all your explanations and suggestions! Our installations are peculiar and we don't have much possibility for improvement. I live in an old house in the mountains. We have 3 acres of very steep land (like 30 to 40%), the only flat parts of land are where we grow our food! Half of the property is fenced but nothing that would resist a very hungry fox. The coop is an old barn that was turned into a coop in the 1950's in the basement of our house, it's 18m square/200 square feet. The little pen where we put the bantams is 6m sq, 65 square feet, and it's flat, predator safe, but not covered. And it's exposed to the wind. We don't have a run but our flock are kept with part fencing, part nets, on 300m sq and this can be restricted or extended. However this is on extremely steep land. Finally, temperatures in the winter at night are usually around -5 (25f) and may go to minus 8 (17)
Unfortunately I don't really see how we could build another area for the bantams, I will talk it over with my boyfriend. We could eventually get a very small coop for them and put it in the pen but I have a feeling our pullet wouldn't sleep in it.

Here are pictures of the coop (sorry it was night already) and of the pen from above, and where are hens stay in front of the coop.

If she gets used to us it will solve a big part of the problem. In the coop there are many nests in the walls , some quite high that our other hens can not reach, in which she can hide and she could lay, and we also have a few trees and bushes on which she could fly to protect herself from the other hens. I just hope she stops taunting them.


Thanks again to all of you, now I understand the bantam situation with a clearer view .