breeding bantam with full-size rooster??

[Aliyah]

I have a barnyard mix of chickens. Most are heritage breeds and I have some mixed. My question is this, I have a Sebright hen that just showed up at my barn a couple of months ago. No idea where she came from. I have tried to incorporate her with my chickens but they usually run her off. I have been putting food out for her when I see her and I know she has been spending some nights in our hay loft. My Lavender Orpington Rooster is the only one I have that seemed to like her and let's just say she liked him too. My husband and I were cleaning the loft to store some wood up there and she is sitting on a nest of eggs. They have to be Orpington/Sebrights mixed. Does anyone have experience with bantam and regular-size breeds? I have never raised bantams before and I wasn't sure if the chicks will be viable. The eggs are small, so the chicks should be small, right? IDK

 

[fluffycrow]

Have you candled them? Just because she's sitting doesn't mean they're fertile

 

[Egg Snatcher]

I have a barnyard mix of chickens. Most are heritage breeds and I have some mixed. My question is this, I have a Sebright hen that just showed up at my barn a couple of months ago. No idea where she came from. I have tried to incorporate her with my chickens but they usually run her off. I have been putting food out for her when I see her and I know she has been spending some nights in our hay loft. My Lavender Orpington Rooster is the only one I have that seemed to like her and let's just say she liked him too. My husband and I were cleaning the loft to store some wood up there and she is sitting on a nest of eggs. They have to be Orpington/Sebrights mixed. Does anyone have experience with bantam and regular-size breeds? I have never raised bantams before and I wasn't sure if the chicks will be viable. The eggs are small, so the chicks should be small, right? IDK

The chicks will grow out to be a medium sized bird that lays medium sized eggs. I’ve had standard roosters breed bantams before.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

About day 7 is the beast to candle them if you do.

 

[Aliyah]

About day 7 is the beast to candle them if you do.

I already thought about that. I am not sure how many eggs she has, at least 6. I looked up her breed when she showed up and it said they rarely go broody so I didn't think this would happen. She disappeared a week ago and I thought maybe something got her or she found another barn to hang out at.

 

[Chicalina]

A large fowl Orpington rooster could easily kill a tiny sebright by mating her. Have you actually seen them mating? The size and weight difference is massive.

He could tuck her up under his wing and she is so small you wouldn't know she was there!

My sebright laid a clutch in secret and went missing for 10 days. When I found her she had 13 eggs. God only knows how she pancaked to cover all of those!

I had a bantam silkie rooster at the time. None of the eggs were fertilised. He didn't mate her at all. Just didn't see her as mating material. Also she was too small.