Omlet cube and run

[marmite+toast]

Sad to say we lost marmite this week (old age and ill health) taking our little flock down to two.

We would ideally like to have three chooks from an egg point of view, but I'm not sure if its wise to try and introduce a single chicken? Also wondered about getting a couple of bantams instead of one bigger chicken, can they live successfully with bigger chooks? We have an eglu classic with an extended run, but as I work from home, they spend their days in a larger open run, and are only in the eglu run on the rare days we go out. Any advice appreciated, thank you. X

[atsw]

Yes, you can mix bantams and large fowl. Personally I've had 5 of each happily living together in two eglus inside a large WIR. The bantams were introduced as chicks rather than full grown hens, but I see no reason why a careful introduction of mature bantam hens would not work. Introducing two hens of any size is likely to be easier than one for sure. In fact, you may struggle to buy a single hen. Many breeders and traders will only sell you two or more anyway.

 

Andrew

[marmite+toast]

Thank you, do your bantams have good temperaments? I've heard they can be a bit tricky

[atsw]

Yes, I've read that others have struggled with Penkin bantams in particular (can be a bit feisty). Mine, however, are real softies and I think it helps that two of them are bantam cockerels, so see it as their job to keep order within the flock as a whole.