Small fowl with large fowl?

[J&Kfeatheredfowl]

Hey all! I was curious if a Cochin hen and a brahma hen can happily live with silkies?

I just don’t want the little silkies getting hurt ( e.g stepped on) thx in advance

 

[SeaPolka]

I keep Bantam and large fowl together and don't have problems, yours should be fine, they will establish a pecking order first

 

[J&Kfeatheredfowl]

Okay thanks, I plan on raising them together. But this is all a rough plan, it may change many times

 

[Chickassan]

Should be fine,bantams can actually handle themselves pretty good despite being tiny.

 

[The Angry Hen]

I have Cochin's with Faverolles (hatchery Faverolles that are a bit smaller) and they seem to be perfect flock mates. I assume that your Brahma and Cochin can happily live with a few Silkies. Good luck!

 

[chickendreams24]

As long as there's more than one bantam and especially if they're raised together they should be fine.

We keep a large widely mixed flock that includes massive English orps and other large fowl breeds as well as silkies oegb and a sebright.

The only thing I would caution you is that if you have a roo of one of those large breeds he will try to mate the bantams which is very hard to watch and can be harmful. We combat this by having a lot more large fowl hens and pullets. That being said it does occasionally happen and we even have a silkie hen and a black English orp rooster that are in love. She only squats for him. He actually places his feet on either side of her to breed instead of on top of her. We do have a brahma and used to have two more before they were rehomed over a year ago.

 

[J&Kfeatheredfowl]

As long as there's more than one bantam and especially if they're raised together they should be fine.

We keep a large widely mixed flock that includes massive English orps and other large fowl breeds as well as silkies oegb and a sebright.

The only thing I would caution you is that if you have a roo of one of those large breeds he will try to mate the bantams which is very hard to watch and can be harmful. We combat this by having a lot more large fowl hens and pullets. That being said it does occasionally happen and we even have a silkie hen and a black English orp rooster that are in love. She only squats for him. He actually places his feet on either side of her to breed instead of on top of her. We do have a brahma and used to have two more before they were rehomed over a year ago.

Don’t worry, the roo will be a silkie. The larger breeds will be female

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Even if they're not raised together... I introduced two Spangled Hamburgs, which are bantam sized to my existing flock of large birds... There was some issues as they established the pecking order... but otherwise its fine. My silver stood up for herself and is middle of the flock in pecking order. The gold hasn't put up for herself, and is at the bottom of the pecking order, however their personalities are different too.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I'm gonna be a Debby Downer. Silkies are odd little birds, and they have those attractive crests. I personally would always keep silkies with silkies, or other gentle bantam breeds like cochins or d'uccle. Other bantam breeds can be too much too.

You are choosing more gentle standard sized birds, but I still think the silkies will struggle, especially if you end up with those that aren't quite all there as some silkies can be.