Introducing Seramas to Standard hens

[uisceros]

Hi all,

I have a bit of a dilemma - I have a young flock of 12 pullets, all four months old. Most of them are standard, but I have four bantams as well. They all get along for the most part, as they’ve been raised together since a day old.

The issue is that I recently acquired four standard Seramas. I had hoped to put them with the others chickens when they were younger, but I decided to quarantine the new birds for ~6 weeks.

I’ve had the Seramas in a smaller side coop for the past two weeks so they can all see each other without touching. The problem is that whenever I try to introduce the Seramas to the big girls, they immediately begin to peck the little ones. I know this is how chickens are, but since the Seramas are SO much smaller, I’m concerned. The largest (a rooster) is only a pound! I had hoped that having the Serama rooster would make adding them easier, but so far not so.

Would it be better to introduce the new ones when the others start laying (and they get calmer)? Any other tricks?

Worst case I keep the Seramas separate altogether, but I was really hoping they could coexist.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Pretty sure you're supposed to keep them seperate

 

[bhawk-23]

I have 2 Seramas in with my mixed flock. Originally two pullets and one rooster were added in when they were around 8-12 weeks. I had some younger and some older in the flock. They mostly stayed in their trio until the rooster started attacking my full sized hens, drawing blood. When he was culled the two girls stick together and are actually in the middle of the pecking order.

We have a large yard and free range all day so lots of space to retreat if the need should arise. We have a coop that only the bantams sleep in. I'm not sure I would attempt it if they did not free range and have sleeping quarters. Close quarters could pose an issue imo.