On Cooping Bantams and Large Fowl Together

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Hi, I'm new and could do with a bit of advice from more experienced keepers. I get my coop today and am collecting the chickens as soon as it's built. I've asked a couple of breeders about keeping bantams and large fowl in the same coop: some say yes, no problem, and some say absolutely not. Does anyone have experience of this, either good or bad? I would hate to put them together if the little ones are going to get picked on. Any help very gratefully received.
Thanks.
Liz
 
If they are being kept in an enclosed space in a run I'd be inclined to keep them apart. Mainly as any chook picked on won't be able to get away. If its a larger run, ie inside a 50m electric netting or some such and you don't have masses I'd say ok.

If your hens will be free ranging then keep them together. Chances are they won't range together but go off in two groups, large and bantams.

Just be aware that if you intend to keep them in the same house, for bantams you need different sized perches for their feet (especially when young and growing) to the larger size for large chooks. And as chooks don't always sleep where we would like them to, having mixed perches in a house can mean the wrong sized birds use the wrong perches for roosting.

I always keep my large fowl in one house, bantams in another and let them mingle when outside free ranging. I never keep them together in a run or penned up as a rule. I find it far easier this way.
 
Thanks, for the advice. They would be cooped/housed together - there is a run on the house and I am hoping to give them free-range of the garden in addition, but perhaps it would be better to stick to the large fowl.

My daughter wants a bantam as a pet, but I'm after eggs. Is there a good large breed to have as a pet - a friendly one that likes to be handled etc? I'm sure this would do her as it's the interaction she's after.

Thanks

Liz
 
Just had another thought...Will cats attack bantams? I know they should leave the larger birds alone, but I can see one of mine, taken in as a stray last summer, seeing a bantam as a tasty meal in two legs.

Liz
 
Hi Liz,
I keep a mixed group of large fowl and bantams together and they all get on very well- (I'll be seperating them up a bit soon for breeding though!) I find my orpingtons very docile and have never seen them peck another bird whereas some of the pekins I have are far more aggressive to new members that I put into the group- they more than hold their own!
Mine do free range wherever they like which helps matters but the groups they go off into when they are out and about change regularly and are usually a mix of sizes and breeds. I would say if you choose your breeds carefully - perhaps calmer LF and feisty bantams you will be fine if as Snifter says they have space to get away from each other.-
The large fowl can be just as good with children- if you get them from a small scale breeder you would have a head start in taming them as they have more interaction with people. Not sure about cats- I have no trouble with the feral ones around me but that's not to say I wont in the future!
Hope this helps,
Nicky
 
Some cats will, some cats won't. Its luck of the draw. Our old one would stalk the banties but never tried to take one. However, chicks she felt were fair game and she would occasionally grab one, even when grown a bit bigger.
 
This is great - it's like having a friend in the next room!
Here's where I'm at...

The coop was billed as a bantam coop suitable for 6 LF or 10 bantums - is this likely to give me perch problems with regards to size?

If I decide to go just with bantums, how many eggs do I need for every LF egg, and aren't they more broody? I'm only having hens as I have neighbours and don't think a cockerel would be fair on them. Wouldn't the hens just sit on the eggs?

Next...if, indeed, a really calm LF and feisty bantums can cope, are they any other combuinations to reccommend?

Thanks, everyone. I'm so excited about this I feel like a kid, but I don't want to make too many mistakes right at the beginning if I can help it.

Liz
 
Liz,
If you have a search for breeders local to you it may help you choose a combination- Many people keep a couple of different breeds- and then raise all of the youngsters in a mixed group- so someone near you may have a few bantam pullets and large fowl pullets that have grown up together- this would mean they are far more likely to continue getting on after they go to you. Also, the small scale breeders are usually very helpful and knowledgable about their birds so you have an expert on tap :D
Nicky
 
Hi Liz,
My first little 'flock' were a mixed LF & Bantam group. I took 5 birds over from an elderly lady who had kept a much larger flock for many years so these had all grown up together. The bantams were a pair & the 3 LF all hens. All were quite happy together, the female bantam was the bottom of the pecking order but not in a nasty way, they never bullied her as such, she just was the last at the food etc but being small she just used to sneak in under the radar :lol: The little cockerel tried to be the 'boss' & looked upon all the ladies as his girls to look after. They were all kept in a large run together & slept in the coup together too, the little female bantam slept at the top of the coup on a perch alone & the others in the nest boxes, somehow they worked it out themselves, it didn't seem to be a problem for them.

Hope this info gives some useful background to help you make a decision.
 
Thanks to everyone who replied to my questions about bantams and LF together.

To update you all, I spoke to my local breeder when I went over this afternoon and she said I should get them all at once for it to have the best chance of working.

So, I am now the very proud owner of 2 Black Rocks, for eggs (Bertie and Gertie), and two little Pekins, one buff (Buffy), one lemon (Lemony).

So far, so good, and the lady said to call her in 3 days if there is a problem and she will take the little ones back. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because thay are so cute - if I didn't want the eggs so much, I think I'd return the Black Rocks.

Thanks, again.
Liz
 
hi
I have pekins who live with a cochin and a big ol cross breed hen and they all get on fine. they are in there pen most of the time and are allowed to free range at weekends and when its lighter nights they will be out in the evenings but all day while I'm at work they are penned together. some of the pekins are even boss over the bigger chooks. good luck with them, hope they all get on ok if they are all young i'm sure you should be fine
 
I used to have an old pekin cockerel that took a fancy to an orpington lady, he used to try mating with it. Was the funniest thing I ever saw, half the time he couldn;t jump high enough to get on her back and just held onto her tail feathers for dear life when she ran off with himself still attached with his beak to her rear end!!
 
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