Yes it is a little cruel, and other than the tail being held crookedly he is perfectly normal. However, I do not get a lot of support at home with my chickens. My siblings don't care and my dad would just love to cook them all up, my mom though, seems to support me. So doing things for my chickens is kind of like behind my dad's back, he knows about it, but l try not to get him to think about it. I have Cocolo( my jap) in the run, he has it all to himself, but misses having a flock, l am getting some more bantams(hopefully soon) and he will have a flock in another month or two when they are old enough to stay outside. As far as housing, l have drawn up some plans for a small coop that will easily fit three or four bantams( even with a foot tall tail) that they will stay in at night and in winter, it even has a bottom part where they can get into the sunlight.
