Just one bantam?

[kaflemin]

Hello! I received my spring chicks last week and unfortunately 2 of my 3 Mille fleur D’uccles didn’t make it. So I have one lone bantam amongst Brahmas and Orpingtons. Right now there are 9 other chicks, but my kids are raising them for our 4H auction. In the end there will likely be one Orpington, one or two Brahmas, and the one bantam. Do any of you have success stories for having just one bantam with standards? A week in she’s certainly fitting right in. I’m wondering if I should scramble to place another order to get her some little friends?

 

[sourland]

Raised together with large fowl, bantams generally are able to hold their own.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Agree, they'll hold their own even when not raised with large fowl.

 

[kaflemin]

And hopefully be happy without friends their own size? Would love to hear success stories if anyone has them.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

And hopefully be happy without friends their own size? Would love to hear success stories if anyone has them.

some of my bantam prefer to be with my standards and my bantams are more dominate than some of my standards. A standard rooster is able to breed the bantam too. If your little baby is a male then I would get him 1-2 hens so he dosent get frustrated when mating season is at the highest.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

One word: no.

Bantams belong with only bantams for various reasons. You will see a lot of people saying others have raised bantams and large fowl together before but what they do not say is the deaths and injuries (major and minor) that will come afterwards. During pecking order fights, a large fowl hen could seriously injure a bantam hen, and a large fowl rooster trying to mate with a bantam hen will squash her. It is better to be safe than sorry.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I have only one flock where two of my bantams are kept with large fowl, but that is because the large fowl are so small that they are close to bantam themselves and the bantam hen scares off the large fowl hens. It is fine to keep bantams and large fowl together in cases like these, but if you have huge breeds like Brahmas then it is not.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

One word: no.

Bantams belong with only bantams for various reasons. You will see a lot of people saying others have raised bantams and large fowl together before but what they do not say is the deaths and injuries (major and minor) that will come afterwards. During pecking order fights, a large fowl hen could seriously injure a bantam hen, and a large fowl rooster trying to mate with a bantam hen will squash her. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Ive never had any of that happen in my 7 years of owning standards and bantams. I am even hatching chick right now that are from a large standard EE a tiny mixed bantam. Now if your rooster was a large fowl brahma or a bird that are ment for meat then i could see the squashing part.

 

[imacurler]

And hopefully be happy without friends their own size? Would love to hear success stories if anyone has them.

My Bantam is very happy with my larger girls I only have 6 chicken so that might be why they all have plenty of room to roam. My Bantam holds her own she is small but mighty. My other chicken are afraid of her.

 

[Eggs_Over_EZ]

We had a bantam we acquired along with large fowl, (Our roo was a total gentleman so never had issues with him tearing up backs of hens or forcing himself on them.). That little bantam was a spitfire. She was like a chihuahua of chickens. Big fowl did not phase her. They had a large area to run in and a spacious coop. Do not have experience of the mix in a brooder.