Trying to integrate the chicks. What now? Need help!!!

[grammyjladr]

I have 25 birds, 2 are 10 week old banties,18 are 8 weeks(various other full size breeds). 20 living happilly together but I have 5 that are banties, so much smaller and were being bullied a bit in the beginning so I put them in a brooder together. Now the 20 various breeds are doing fine in the nice new hen house but I can't seem to put the 5 with them. One of the 5 is deffinately a rooster, blue cochin banty and cocky. He's been isolated for a few days for pulling the feathers out of Queen Odacoup(a polish crested's)head. The other 4 get along but how do I blend the group? If I put any of the banties down in the hen house either the blue cochin banty starts trouble by pecking someone and my other two suspected roos jump him, or everyone chases the littler hens around. Now I have seen some of the bigger, not older hens sort of guard little Tinkerbell but she is scared to death and runs back to me screaming to be picked up! I'm afraid to just dump them in there or to put them in at night for fear I'll have a dead or injured banty in the morning. I have moved the big brooder with the five banties into the hen house so they can all see each other, but have the wire cage front on the brooder(5"l x 2.5 h x 2.5 w) to keep them from getting hurt. That seems to be going well. No arguements at the wire or anything. They've been like that for about a week. I have 2 bantie silkies( still so tiny) and some other little gold bantie and they are about a third of the size of their counterparts in the main group of 20. Any suggestions? I didn't want any roos but you know how that goes..Little cochin Shiloh is soo cute when he practices crowing. But what an attitude! He loves to be held and petted by people but tries to be the alpha chicken without the size to back im up. I've met some men like that. The usually end up alone too. LOL!

 

[geebs]

Are there any adults.... If you make paragraphs and such... make the post more readable...I would have a better understanding...

 

[Pheonix]

If you free-range them, I'd let them all go out in the open so they can get away when they need. They will be picked on just to set the pecking order, but it will only be a week or so. If the larger ones are friendly to you, I'd put the bantams in your lap and let the others come over and see them that way too. The roos will argue, but they will all get a place in the order and then calm down.

If you have time, I'd just put them together for a few hours a day while you are there, and then back in the brooder at night for a bit so they can play with each other, but then are protected when you aren't there. Do that for a few days and then just watch them from the house so you can stop it if it gets to bad, but remember, they will get picked on a bit and they have to go through it so they can get integrated.

It took mine about a week to get into the clan. Now my RIR picks on the big girls but doesn't bother the bantams since they are so low on the order.

Hope that helps.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

We have a pair of banties hatched this spring with our LF. They are now 5 months old and so obnoxious to their same age hatchlings that we dumped them into the adult pen. Yes they hide during the day but they go into the henhouse at night and they aren't being damaged.
The roo is especially nasty about picking on all the others ( who are larger).
I'm not sure what you can do about the little man being too big for his britches