Solitary chicken - need advice

[elpolloloco!]

i have 3 gingernut rangers in a mark 2 eglu, but want to get more chickens. i cannot introduce two new hens into my eglu, as it only has space for four hens, and by adding two i would have five, and as i know that introducing one hen on its own is often diffucult and can be violent, i was slightly stuck.

having seen some friends bantams, i then had the idea of adding two bantams to my flock, as this would not overcrowd my eglul, but wondered if anyone else kept bantams and chickens in the same eglu/run at the same time and if this is a faesable idea?????

HELP!!!!

[Chickens@61]

i haven't go an eglu, so can't really comment about size space issue..

 

we have two bantams in with our two big girls, and they get along beautifully. we had the bantams first though, so maybe that makes a difference? we got the others individually and introduced them slowly, one at a time and everything went smoothly.

 

i know bantams are smaller, but someone told me you should allow 80% of the space that you would allow for a larger hen (not sure if that is correct?) and also you need to think about if they have room to get out of the way/hide if the big ones are picking on them..

 

hope this helps

[superjules]

Chickens@61 is right, with bantams you need to allow at least 2/3rds of the amount of space you would allow a hybrid. A bantam doesn't count as half a chicken!

 

If you are going to keep bantams and hybrids, you should introduce at least as many bantams as the amount of hybrids, so the little ones are not outnumbered. You need to choose feisty bantam breeds that are capable of standing up for themselves. The bantams will also need some hiding places in the run that the hybrids are too big for, so the bantams can get some respite if they need it and you will need to take the introductions very slowly.