Introducing Bantams to standard sized flock

[alicek4]

I have been reading posts related to this, but would love to hear any more advice. I have a small flock of free ranging RIRs and Sex Links. Only 6 altogther, one of the RIRs is a roo (wasn't supposed to be!). I recently bought 2 Americauna chicks, but when one died the next day we certainly didn't want to raise it and introduce it to the flock alone. My husband bought 2 more chicks and they are bantams (he didn't know they would be so small, and I think we had them for 3 days before I asked what they were). I am seeing mixed reviews as to if I will be able to do this safely but I am going to try! I am hoping because they free range it will be a bit easier. My specific questions are this: Should I put them in the coop (which is a large dog run, my chickens only sleep and lay in it) separated by chicken wire as soon as the nights are no less than 50 degrees? They are 5 weeks old right now. If they will be OK, I would like to do it as soon as possible. I have them in a large dog kennel (in the house right now) and intend to leave it in the coop as long as they need it. I feel they would like the room ASAP, but want to make sure they will be OK. The Americauna is already twice the size on the Bantams, lol and they all peck each other so I can't tell who among the 3 will come out on top. Also, how long should I leave them separated? And if it is OK to put them outside now if the weather is OK, at what age is it OK to mix them? They wil always be so much smaller than the others! Do you think it will help that they are being raised with one big dude? TIA!

 

[shmccarthy]

Hi alicek4,
I have mixed bantams and standard sized chickens for 3 years now and I think I got it down. I have a flock of 6 adult Easter Eggers, one being a rooster. I also had 3 bantams, that I raised from chicks with the others, because of this, they got along fine. I ended up rehoming the bantams because the 2 roosters were human agressive and the hen was a package deal with one of them.

This year however, I bought more standard sized egg laying pullets and some more bantams. I kept them all together as chicks, I had 3 brooders. Two in the basement and one in the garage. I put the bantams and sex links together and 'graduated' all of them to bigger brooders, the biggest in the garage once they were feathered. I live in Michigan and I let my pullets in the big coop once they were all feathered. Most of the young pullets and the bantams got along fine because they were in in the same brooder together. The others, re-established the pecking order, and after a couple days, they were all getting along. No injuries or casualties.
It gets cold here at night, even in the summer sometimes and they were all fine. I had a heat lamp out there for them, and it got down to 28 on the coldest night and none of them froze or even got sick.
I kept the younger ones separate from the adults by fencing off part of the run with a wooden wall and chicken wire. They were all able to see each other, but they couldn't touch each other. When the oldest pullets were 10 weeks, I let them in with the adults. The adults let them know who was boss, but again, no injuries. I let the older bantams in as well. Although they are a lot smaller than my layer pullets, they really fend for themselves. I have now 6 adults, 20 layer pullets, and 12 bantams all together.
The bigger rooster, my Easter egger, definitely lets them know he's the boss. They all run out of his way when he walks by. I've never really had a problem with him though as he has never shown any signs of aggression. I just let him know that I'm an even bigger rooster than him and he respects that.
I gave the bantams a better chance of fending for themselves by building small things they can hide in. If the rooster, or any of the bigger ones decide they wanna hurt one of the little ones, I have small hiding spots (wood boxes) with small openings only the bantams can fit through. I put them in there to let them know it was there and they certainly use it. All my bantams, with the exception of one really brave cockerel are at the bottom of the pecking order, and do get picked on a bit still. There hasn't been any injuries because of it, but I still like to give them a chance to hide if they need it.
Hope that helps some!

 

[Patsy2757]

Great idea making hiding places! I'm going to try that. Thanks for sharing!

 

[alicek4]

Thanks so much, it helps a lot! I am sure we can make hiding places; as they free range (we have 100 acres) and there is a lot of trees and tall grass they may not need it. The bantams seem to be flying a lot more as chicks than my larger ones did, so they may be able to get into the trees easier. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond so thoroughly, I truly appreciate it.