HENS/BANTAMS KEPT TOGETHER

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Mad Maggie

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As some of you know I lost one of my silkies last week and am now left with two. I also have two young warrens and was wondering how difficult it is to keep the two together - does anyone do it successfully?

If so do you put them in at night as with introducing a new hen to the coop and see how it goes next day?

Any comments most welcome (even negative ones!)
 
Not sure Mags, I would assume you could put them in together and pop the odd one out over night if they have all been on the same land together, quarantine would be needed if there was an illness in the flock. But i honestly couldn't say I've never had any other birds other than my hybrids.
 
dont know if this will help but i have my 6 month old odd sod chick in with my little bantams and she drowns them size wise and they share the same house and they all get on fine ,the bantams were introduced to her when she was quite small along with my other babies which have now gone .could you seprate them with a wire fence for a few days so they get to know each other first unless you have already done that or you could just house them together when its dark its meant to help but i have never done it yet .
 
A long time ago I had 2 silkie bantams, and after a while, when we wanted more eggs I got another 4 POL Rhode Island Reds. Even at about 20 weeks they towered over little Matilda, but right from the start she took control and bossed them about and stood no nonsense. Even when they were fully grown she was still top hen for several years. So if your Warrens are young and not too dominant yet, it should be possible to merge them with the 2 silkies. Karminski has given good advice about dividing the run so they can see each other for a week or so, then putting the warrens in the coop at night with the silkies, Nothing is ever certain with hens, but there's no reason why they can't learn to live together, especially if the bantams are more mature than the hybrids. Good luck, let us know how it goes!
 
That is brilliant - thanks everyone. This afternoon I put them on the lawn next to one another in seperate runs and then merged the run into one big one - the warrens accepted my silkie cross who is the same colour as them but chase my little white girl. I left them all in the same coop tonight and will check them a few times this evening to make sure they are all okay and then in the morning split them again if there are any probs.
Will keep you updated on what happens. By the way I think they are all about the same age - the warrens are a bit bigger than the silkies though
 
sounds like it could work out ok , i must admit that i wont let my little ones in with the big ones even though they see ecah other every day the big ones really do seem to let rip at them but there is 17 large to 3 small :-)05 when i have let them out together ,but theres also a big age difference between all my birds which probably doesnt help i've wanted to put my odd sod chick in with the big girls now shes big enough but while its all happy with her and the little ones together then i will leave it be .
 
:lol: thats why the little ones live in the extension of the run actually it makes the extension look massive as they are so small .
 
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