Choosing whether to keep bantam or regular-sized cockerels

[CluckyMcCluckington]

I currently have six 11-month-old hens (Lavender Orpington, Welsummer, 2 California Whites, Leghorn, and some kind of hybrid who is slightly smaller than the other ladies.)
I have 10 new 5-week-old chicks that are in the coop next to them until ready for integration.
(5 Ölandsk Dwarf bantams, 1 Old English Pheasant Fowl, and 3 Swedish Flower Hens.)
I am pretty sure that 3 are cockerels. (2 bantam brothers and 1 Flower Hen.) My question is how to choose which one/ones to keep. I know a lot will depend on future behavior. So far, all are docile and submissive to me. 1 Bantam is clearly the alpha of the 2 brothers. My concern is how my 4 bantam pullets will fare with a full-sized Flower Hen cockerel. He's going to be beautiful and so far he's sweet, but I don't want to keep him if he will be crushing or hurting the bantam ladies. I don't care if the roosters successfully mate, but I don't want bantams that get too frisky trying with the big girls and hurting them, either. The total number of females with the older flock included will be 13. But hey, we all get surprises.

I have a big run, the 2 coops, separate water and feed stations, and a couple of acres that everyone can forage under supervision. So those aren't factors. I am more concerned with the dynamics of mixing the chicken sizes and what are other people's experiences?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I would just keep the Bantam cockerel unless your heart is set on breeding standard sized chickens. Bantam rooster are generally easier on hens and you can stock them at a higher rate in most instances. Once you see a Bantam hen mated by a full sized roosters you probably won't want to keep them. It can work, but it also can cause problems.

 

[akitafriendakita]

It can depend on the rooster too. It's rare, but I've had roosters that are so docile that they don't even mate hens despite how big they are - especially if they're not the top rooster. I often wait to see how their behavior is and then decide personally!

 

[Tonyroo]

Keep the Swedish flower hen cockerel. There human friendly and easy on the hens once he gets his routine down. Practice makes perfect, he won't mate the bantam hens. Very docile rooster once he gets older at a 1 to 1 1/2 years old.


Also if you keep him and he goes into his hormonal stage, he will be a jerk to the hens for a period of a couple of months because his hormones are raging.

And one more thing when your out with your flock and he tries to dance around you leave that space immediately. He's testing your dominance.

This my Swedish flower rooster, 4 year old Prince aka describes his personality hence the name.

 

[Folly's place]

It's too soon to decide which cockerels stays. Consider your goals for this flock; will you be hatching their eggs? Can you keep a bantam breeding group, and a standard group, when you want to have your own chicks?
We have both standards and bantams and have separate areas when we want to raise chicks. It takes three weeks before you can have hens producing eggs from the rooster you plan for them, and then maybe weeks to gather enough of the preferred eggs. That's a month of separation, can you do that?
Raise these cockerels and watch behaviors, eliminate any with defects in conformation, at least, besides temperament, and be stricter if you want birds who resemble their breed standards.
And we've never had hens injured by our big roosters, because of their size. Polite roosters learn to be careful if they want the ladies to like them!
Mary

 

[Lumley Farm]

This forum allowed me to decide on which cockerel to keep. Big Red is polite, and I witnessed him do his dance. He is accepted so far as I can tell. Sorry Hans, you were too much of a bully!

 

[CluckyMcCluckington]

This forum allowed me to decide on which cockerel to keep. Big Red is polite, and I witnessed him do his dance. He is accepted so far as I can tell. Sorry Hans, you were too much of a bully!

Oh, yes, any bullies have to go. That's a good way to decide, too. Glad Big Red is a good boy.

So far my 2 bantam boys are crowing and trying to mate. They get along with each other and the older ladies and a few of the pullets keep them in line. My full-sized cockerel hasn't hit puberty yet, but so far he is completely gentle and docile. I'll see how it goes in a month or two.

 

[Mrs. K]

Get your chicks in with the flock sooner than later. I move mine in between 3-5 weeks. When there is a big size difference, it is easy to set up a safety zone where the chicks can escape too.

But it is a more natural society raising the chicks with older hens. Older hens tend to school cockerels into better chicken and people society. Then later on, pick the one you like, or cull the one you don't, or a combination of the two.

Mrs K

 

[CluckyMcCluckington]

Get your chicks in with the flock sooner than later. I move mine in between 3-5 weeks. When there is a big size difference, it is easy to set up a safety zone where the chicks can escape too.

But it is a more natural society raising the chicks with older hens. Older hens tend to school cockerels into better chicken and people society. Then later on, pick the one you like, or cull the one you don't, or a combination of the two.

Mrs K

Thank you. Oh, yes they were turned out with the grown hens early on. Maybe that is why all 3 boys are so well behaved. It will just take longer to decide, since I have no obvious problem cockerels, yet.