[WR1]

We are intending to purchase 2 silkie bantams , we want them to live with  our 3, 18 week old light sussex hens and cockerel . Could anyone please give us any advice on what we should or should not do.

[Lost in France]

Let them get used to each other through a wire partition. We gave a couple of silkie bantams to a friend new to poultry. We suggested she let them settle in and "own" the territory before she got her 3 bigger ladies. She did this but the new, larger girls were very aggressive towards them...to the point that one died and we came home one day to find the other waiting for us in a little box in the garden!!

I think the size difference meant that the little silkies really didn't stand a chance of establishing themselves anywhere except the bottom of the pecking order. It was a very sad ending... :cry:

Not sure how big your existing birds are but, if they're larger, you'll need to take it slowly. I do have larger birds and bantams and the bantams are feisty and easily hold their own...a couple of them are even higher in the pecking order than the peacocks!!  

Silkies are lovely so it's worth trying...just don't rush it.

Good luck,
Judi