Mixing large chickens with bantams

[March]

Can anyone give me some advice about this? We have had four hens and a large white cockerel since January and a few weeks ago also obtained four bantam pullets and a bantam cockerel. We have spent many hours preparing a large outbuilding for them all and put a mesh barrier up to separate them. However, when we put the large cockerel in the new place next to the bantams World War Three errupted. The little bantam cockerel broke through the barrier and attacked our other huge cockerel who then pecked the bantam. Things got so bad that we had to abandon the move altogether. Now we have a large building housing only the bantams, and the other chickens are still sharing a smaller shed with two ducks! Is it worth trying again and if so, what should we do differently next time?

[CountryFayre]

Putting the two groups in together with two cockerels is most definatley a no no. If you want to run them besides each other then you will need to blank out the wire between with board or sheeting. Whilse they can see each other, they will probably try to defend their ladies, which will lead to stress all round - including you! It really depends on the individual birds. All my large birds run next to each other with no problems, my turkeys become very offfensive to say the least. The fact that the bantam is smaller probably makes him feel insecure and hence the behaviour

[March]

Thanks for the advice Countryfayre, unfortunately we can't keep them apart when they are outside, so going by what you say, I think it's likely that the bantam will want to defend his ladies there as well. Maybe it's back to the drawing board! The bantams might be better off in a small house on their own at the other end of our field.