One flock, but two separate groups?

[CurvyCoop]

I have a flock of 7 chickens, 2 Araucanas, 1 Swedish Isbar, 1 Buff Orp, 1 BCM and 2 Dutch Booted bantams. The bantams are both a year old, I adopted them from someone who's had them since they were chicks. The others are around 14 weeks now, except for the Isbar who is a month older.
I've had this combo for almost two weeks now and I am seeing a distinct division between the youngun's and the bantams. The bantams are very obviously sharing the top position, but they don't really hang out with the rest. It's like I have two separate flocks instead of one.

Because it might be relevant information, this is how they all came to be with me:
I got the Araucanas first when they were 8-9 weeks old. About two weeks later I got the Isbar and two days after that I got the Orp and the BCM. They were all supposed to arrive at the same time, the day I picked up the Orp and BCM, but real life intervened and the other sellers needed me to pick them up sooner.
All the younguns integrated without any issue. Within a day they were comfortable with eachother and they have always roosted all smushed together on my * very spacious! * perch.
But it was different with the bantams. They arrived two days after the Orp and BCM. At first their integration seemed even easier than the others, Everyone was happily scratching around the garden. The bantams behaved like they had always lived here and very confidently explored their new surroundings. That night they all went to the coop together, but the bantams decided to roost on the other end of the perch. In the next two days it became very obvious that the bantams had propelled themselves to the top spot of the pecking order, which is fine, someone needs to be there, but they seem to be way more forceful than the Isbar, who held it the few days before. And now all the younguns are definitely a bit intimidated by the bantams. And the bantams actually seem to want to keep the others at a distance. They will actively chase the others away whenever they get too close. And once again, I know that most of this is just top hens being top hens and that's fine, but is it normal that they are so isolated? And if it isn't, is there anything I can do to integrate everyone into one big happy family flock?

 

[DobieLover]

This is completely normal. Until the pullets start to lay they will not fully integrate in with a laying flock. That's just the way it is. What you need for a harmonious flock at the moment is just time.

 

[Shadrach]

I have a flock of 7 chickens, 2 Araucanas, 1 Swedish Isbar, 1 Buff Orp, 1 BCM and 2 Dutch Booted bantams. The bantams are both a year old, I adopted them from someone who's had them since they were chicks. The others are around 14 weeks now, except for the Isbar who is a month older.
I've had this combo for almost two weeks now and I am seeing a distinct division between the youngun's and the bantams. The bantams are very obviously sharing the top position, but they don't really hang out with the rest. It's like I have two separate flocks instead of one.

Because it might be relevant information, this is how they all came to be with me:
I got the Araucanas first when they were 8-9 weeks old. About two weeks later I got the Isbar and two days after that I got the Orp and the BCM. They were all supposed to arrive at the same time, the day I picked up the Orp and BCM, but real life intervened and the other sellers needed me to pick them up sooner.
All the younguns integrated without any issue. Within a day they were comfortable with eachother and they have always roosted all smushed together on my * very spacious! * perch.
But it was different with the bantams. They arrived two days after the Orp and BCM. At first their integration seemed even easier than the others, Everyone was happily scratching around the garden. The bantams behaved like they had always lived here and very confidently explored their new surroundings. That night they all went to the coop together, but the bantams decided to roost on the other end of the perch. In the next two days it became very obvious that the bantams had propelled themselves to the top spot of the pecking order, which is fine, someone needs to be there, but they seem to be way more forceful than the Isbar, who held it the few days before. And now all the younguns are definitely a bit intimidated by the bantams. And the bantams actually seem to want to keep the others at a distance. They will actively chase the others away whenever they get too close. And once again, I know that most of this is just top hens being top hens and that's fine, but is it normal that they are so isolated? And if it isn't, is there anything I can do to integrate everyone into one big happy family flock?

You've discovered something about chickens that has been known by some for generations; chickens prefer their own breed, or similar looking chickens to others.
There isn't anything you can do about it. You can try and force them to live together but it won't be the harmonious group you're looking for.
The simple but maybe impracticable answer is to build the Bantams their own coop.

 

[WendyTestaburger]

I have two original girls who hatched together and four girls I got a few months later from a hatchery. Those groups of 2 and 4 are okay with eachother but you can definitely tell in how they free range and how they roost at night who they prefer because they're always in those groups of 2 and 4 and it's been a year, they're all laying now.