I think my silkie is a rooster, no eggs or crowing yet, my only bantam. Some questions.

[cupman]

I originally bought two silkie chickens in March of this year. I wanted more but I had already bought so many chickens I knew I couldn't keep any more. Well, unfortunately one of the silkies dropped dead when it was under a month old, leaving the other silkie alone in a world of LF chickens. The silkie has not laid any eggs and it has not crowed. It's about 8 months old. However, I am nearly certain it is a male. It will do that strut with his legs that my other roosters do and he will try and mount my hens to no avail. His favorite is the black Jersey giant which is kind of comical because the littlest bird is trying to mount the biggest.

Anyways my questions are:

1) Will my silkie be unhappy with all LF hens? I don't think he has ever successfully mated with any of the LF hens. He has never fought with my other five roosters and never been inured.

2) Do some roosters just not crow? I have been told bantams don't lay as soon as LF hens but other than that I really don't know. Are they late bloomers when it comes to crowing?

In just two or three days some predators thinned out my flock. I must have lost 8 or 10 birds before I realized something was wrong. I have kept them locked up and they haven't free ranged in about a couple weeks while I wait for predators. I got one coyote that was sneaking around and it's been quiet ever since. I was considering starting a smaller flock of bantams for my little rooster. What do you guys think?

 

[Smoochie]

He probably doesn't crow so he doesn't get beat up by another rooster. I have a bantam flock and love it but it sounds like he has integrated pretty good in the flock so it may not be necessary. .. But I'm sure he'd love his own girls!!