older hens terrorizing bantams

[Sandrachx]

well, the introduction phase has not gone well. my young adult bantams girls hide constantly under some lower nesting boxes all day to keep away from the older hens we inherited last year. i have 4 silkies chicks in the garage (4 days old) and i can't imagine putting them in with those girls when they are older - all that drama and hostility. so tonight we took the 3 we think are the most dominant/mean and put them in our old turkey pen until we can figure out what to do. i don't want to have more than one hen house at this stage of my life. all i really was wanting were some calm banties for my grandgirls to love on and name so i am thinking of putting the big girls up for adoption. is it possible to have a hen house operate in peace with different sized girls from different generations (interesting question on mothers' day...)?

 

[nccountrygirl]

Most people will not put bantams and standards together. We try to when we first started out and the results were the same as yours. They need separate pens unless they were broodered together.

 

[newbiecaroline]

I'm new at this but have introduced 4 19 week old brownsex link to my 1 1/2 year old roo and his 6 ladies.
I think that there was 4 newbies helped plus the old ones are the bantams.
But what I have wondered and maybe some one here has tried this already....if a person couldn't just take all of them old and new and put 'all" into a new coop? that way no one has fav nests etc?

 

[reveriereptile]

We got some bantams from some Amish during the winter that we housed with RIRs, white leghorns, ducks, and geese. The first couple weeks they mostly hid and the other birds would bother them some but then the birds slowed up on bothering me. Now since we have them moved outside they stay to theirself till it is time to roost then they all go into a green house together to sleep. Have plenty of roosts so they can be away from the others and do fine. Never got bothered enough to lose feathers. They are all full grown though.

 

[Josie]

.
About four months ago I introduced a mix bantam, Grey, along with some standard brooder-mates to older RIRs. The RIRs would never give her a chance. I have to let the RIRs out in order for Grey to lay an egg, or else they'll peck her bloody.
Right now I have her with some 12 week old Marans (which are bigger than her!) I have a set up where chicken wire divides the coop, but the smaller ones can move freely back and forth to get food and water, and the bigger ones are stuck on one side.
By the way, the Marans never pick on her, in fact she rules them. Maybe if you are not to attach to the standards, you can replace them with young chicks, that way you can still enjoy bigger girls.

 

[BaronRenfrew]

If they grow up together bantams can be with standards. Otherwise putting them together is difficult. What can work is to put no-pick peepers on the hens that cause trouble. They're used often on pheasants and they work great if you have to put roosters together as they cannot fight with peepers on.

The peepers bilind the birds from forward vision (the opposite of blinders on a work horse) so they can only see sideways and down to eat. They're nasty to put them on (you have to push the pin through the nostrils) but they work to reduce hostility among birds.

 

[Sandrachx]

so please confirm: i should not even think about introducing the 4 bantam silkie chicks i have in the garage to the other chickens when they are old enough? how do other chicken people get new chicks (hatched w/o a mother hen to protect them) each year and have peace in their coop? i'm getting so frustrated, i'm thinking of starting over with one type of chicken only - but i like larger eggs.

 

[fivebigreds]

New chicks aren't put with the big hens until they are close to laying . I don't like to keep bantams and standards together , chickens are bullys to each other.

 

[Darin115]

I have some year old bantams in my chicken house. I just bought (5) Black sexlinks, (4) Americanas, (5) Golden Buffs and (2) 1 1/2 year old Doms. I put them in the house with the bantams. The bantams rule the roost. They pretty much keep the rest of the chikens in their place. They are causing no harm to them at all.

I tried to put them in with (7) white leg-horns but that did not work.

I thought that if they grow up around the bantams they should have no problem when they get older.

I have a bantam roo in with the white girls and he struts around like he is something. If you mess with his ladies he just can't stand it. It is so funny to see him strutting with those bigger girls.


Darin

 

[chichimama5]

hello we just put 2 new silkies with our 3 other big girls and our rooster~ they have been picked on but they are not being seriously harmed~its just nature~it has been 2 weeks and things are already starting to get better~

it doesnt hurt to try

one husband.2 dogs, 2 cats, one , 4 fish,1angora bunny, one black hen, one red hen, one bantam grey hen, 2 silkies and 1 barred rock rooster