bantam/standard mixed flock?

[kumokumo]

i recently got new chicks, and they’re adorable! my existing flock is made up of two lavender orpington hens (one is LARGE), a salmon faverolle hen, a teeny tiny OEG hen, and a single OEG rooster, who’s the protector of our flock. we decided to get a bantam rooster, because we feared that a standard sized rooster might be too aggressive and too rough on the girls, since we didn’t want them to have chicks. but recently, we just got two bantam self blue d’uccles, one OEG, and a standard silver polish. my mother wanted some bantam chicks. in our current flock right now , our hens get along fine. the little OEG hen gets picked on sometimes, but she gets along really well with our biggest hen. we were hoping if we introduced more bantams, she could have more friends who were her size. does anyone have any advice on having a mixed flock? our salmon faverolle is medium sized, but she’s the queen bee and is quite rude towards all of our other birds. should i just keep a close eye on her when she interacts with the bantams?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I usually say to house them separately, but lately I've been mixing them up in my larger shed, and it seems to be working okay. Adding more bantams won't give your original one friends, as chickens tend to bond with whoever they were raised with, and they stick to that group most of their lives. My salmon faverolle are bossy birds too.

As long as you have enough room, and your birds don't feel crowded it shouldn't matter the size of those you add. Crowding will ramp up aggressive behavior. I'd also keep an eye on the single polish. Sometimes that crest can attract unwanted attention. It's generally best to have more than one so it isn't such a novelty.

 

[rosemarythyme]

does anyone have any advice on having a mixed flock? our salmon faverolle is medium sized, but she’s the queen bee and is quite rude towards all of our other birds. should i just keep a close eye on her when she interacts with the bantams?

Since your flock is already mixed hopefully the fact that the newcomers are different won't be as big of an issue.

If the Faverolles is the top bird, I doubt she'll cause extra problems. Keep an eye on the lowest ranked birds instead - those are the usual troublemakers during integration.

Do you already have an integration plan in mind?

 

[kumokumo]

I usually say to house them separately, but lately I've been mixing them up in my larger shed, and it seems to be working okay. Adding more bantams won't give your original one friends, as chickens tend to bond with whoever they were raised with, and they stick to that group most of their lives. My salmon faverolle are bossy birds too.

As long as you have enough room, and your birds don't feel crowded it shouldn't matter the size of those you add. Crowding will ramp up aggressive behavior. I'd also keep an eye on the single polish. Sometimes that crest can attract unwanted attention. It's generally best to have more than one so it isn't such a novelty.

i’ll definitely keep an eye on the polish. i’ve heard that they get picked on because of their crest too. i was hoping that since we already have a salmon fav with a huge beard, they should be fine. my flock has always been mixed with different breeds and sizes. we’re planning to build a huge closed in space that will act like a greenhouse, so they can have lots of room in the winter. it will easily be over 15ft long. depending on how these chicks do and the availability of chicks in my area, i’d definitely look into getting another polish! we’ve already lost one chick the first night we got home (an OEG), and the store didn’t have any more of them, since they’ve been dying left and right. they said the mailman didn’t deliver them fast enough but hopefully i can get my hands on more chicks !

 

[kumokumo]

Since your flock is already mixed hopefully the fact that the newcomers are different won't be as big of an issue.

If the Faverolles is the top bird, I doubt she'll cause extra problems. Keep an eye on the lowest ranked birds instead - those are the usual troublemakers during integration.

Do you already have an integration plan in mind?

the lowest ranked birds right now are the teeny tiny OEG hen and the huge lavender orpington. they’re both extremely sweet, so i doubt they’ll cause any problems. when we first introduced the OEG hen, the orpington was always pretty nice to her. our other orpington is a bit bossy so i’ll check to see how she interacts. what we’ve done in the past for integration is we’ll bring the chicks out a couple hours of the day (usually in the summer, where they’ll be fine without a heater) in a fenced area of our yard. they’ll be separated, but still able to see each other through the fence. when they get bigger, they’ll be allowed outside almost fully, but coming back inside the brooder for night time. and then we remove the fenced area for a bit every day but put it back after 15 minutes or so. and we slowly increase the time that they’re together so hopefully there won’t be many problems ! i know fighting will happen, as it’s supposed to happen to establish the pecking order. this all happens under supervision.

 

[CharlotteB12]

Make sure there is no overcrowding. You could try introducing the new ones slowly like with a fence or cage between them so no one gets agressive. We have 5 hens that are different breeds that we have had for a year and raised them since they were only 1 day old together. We have Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Speckled Sussex, and Easter Egger. They get along great.

 

[Ridgerunner]

should i just keep a close eye on her when she interacts with the bantams?

You do not get guarantees with any of this, you need to keep an eye on all of them. As Rosemary said, the lower ranked can be your troublemakers even if they are sweet otherwise. Size doesn't matter that much either. It is not unusual at all for bantams to dominate full sized fowl. Believe what you see, not what you think should happen. Trust your eyes more than what any of us say, each situation is different.

What are your goals for integration? Mine are that no one gets hurt. That's it. All that eating, playing, roosting, and cuddling together can wait. Until my pullets start laying I essentially have two separate flocks. The young ones are at the bottom of the pecking order until they start to lay. They typically form a separate flock, maintaining a distance day and night. Sometimes they mingle a lot more than other times. Having lots off space and patience can help. By lots of space I do not mean square footage. I mean actual room to avoid the others. It can help to have separate food and water stations spread out so they can eat and drink in peace without being bullied off of the food and water by the older ones. You can greatly improve the quality of what room you have by adding what we call clutter. Clutter are things they can hide under, hide behind, or use to get over the others high enough they can't be pecked from the ground. In the coop mine spend time on the roosts while the older ones are on the coop floor.

People go through this all of the time. Sometimes it goes extremely smoothly, sometimes not.

Good luck!

 

[kumokumo]

You do not get guarantees with any of this, you need to keep an eye on all of them. As Rosemary said, the lower ranked can be your troublemakers even if they are sweet otherwise. Size doesn't matter that much either. It is not unusual at all for bantams to dominate full sized fowl. Believe what you see, not what you think should happen. Trust your eyes more than what any of us say, each situation is different.

What are your goals for integration? Mine are that no one gets hurt. That's it. All that eating, playing, roosting, and cuddling together can wait. Until my pullets start laying I essentially have two separate flocks. The young ones are at the bottom of the pecking order until they start to lay. They typically form a separate flock, maintaining a distance day and night. Sometimes they mingle a lot more than other times. Having lots off space and patience can help. By lots of space I do not mean square footage. I mean actual room to avoid the others. It can help to have separate food and water stations spread out so they can eat and drink in peace without being bullied off of the food and water by the older ones. You can greatly improve the quality of what room you have by adding what we call clutter. Clutter are things they can hide under, hide behind, or use to get over the others high enough they can't be pecked from the ground. In the coop mine spend time on the roosts while the older ones are on the coop floor.

People go through this all of the time. Sometimes it goes extremely smoothly, sometimes not.

Good luck!

i plan that no one gets hurt. i know they will squabble, but if they keep getting repeatedly picked on to the point of being stressed, then they will need to be separated and we’ll have to keep trying to reintroduce them. we have 2 sheds that are off of the ground and the birds love going under there. they have a bench and a hiding spot in our yard. now that it’s getting warmer, i’m going to add more foliage for them to hide under. i’ve already bought some rose bushes to put in the yard ! in their coop, there’s 2 long roosts for them to sleep on. all of our main birds sleep on one, so i imagine they’ll have the other perch all to themselves. if not, i’ll add another roost for these babies. i’ll definitely find more stuff for them to hide under though, thanks for the advice!