Rooster??

[FrozenFeathers]

Beautiful little boy! I have had several bantam roos with full size hens and they surely did not have a problem mating! If the hen is willing, that is.

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: None of my bantam roosters have had any trouble successfully mating with much larger hens, but it is an obvious prerequisite that the rooster be intelligent enough to understand whether or not he is successfully mating. If he lacks the intelligence or instinct, a pinch of kelp per bird per day will set it all in order.

Best wishes.

 

[Wishapup]

Definitely a rooster.

Depends on the bird for the larger hens. I had 2 bantam roosters that were a few years old...out of 30 or so Black Sex-Link and Barred Rock hen eggs, only two were fertile. I have 3 younger bantam roosters (descended from the other 2 roos) with the same hens right now, plus an Easter Egger, a RIR, and another BR --- and all eggs (I believe) are fertile.

 

[BantamLover21]

Definitely a cockerel. He's a cute little boy! Should have fun trying to mate the big hens.

 

[Aleks]

Yes he can breed with them. I have RIR, Buff Orps and Cucu Marans with some Auracana Bantams. Well, I only have Bantam roosters at this time and I bought an incubator for the mixed fertilized eggs. So my bantam Auracana roosters have fertilized the eggs of the big hens. I have to admit it was humorous to see him do his business. It will be interesting to see what the chicks look like and how their sizes vary. Already at 4 weeks I have one big rooster and several smaller ones. Here goes a few pix of the mixed breed chicks. You can't see in the pics but several of the chicks have the puffy ears indicative of Auacana. So far I really like the smoky grey chick (2nd pic) and hope it turns out to be a hen. In total I incubated 11 chicks, 11 hatched.

 

[pamsmithtulsa]

Kelp? What does that do?

 

[chooks4life]

Kelp? What does that do?

It's a multivitamin and mineral supplement in natural form, since it's just seaweed.

It regulates the endocrine system, so all hormonal imbalances will be corrected, and since it supplies their nutritional needs, they become calm even when overpopulated, and they need less food since their needs are being met. It's a great source of iodine. As a general rule of thumb, vitamins and minerals require the interaction of other vitamins, minerals, hormones etc to be properly synthesized or processed, and in the absence of the correct balance, the body often either eliminates or stores the excess or unprocessed nutrients while awaiting the correct spectrum in the correct balance and form required to handle it. So malnutrition can cause obesity as well as emaciation.

Also, many supplements you can buy are synthetic, cooked or otherwise overprocessed or unnaturally sourced and are actively harmful to the body, or just don't meet the needs completely. Kelp's natural so is very bioavailable. Generally the only 'processing' it has undergone is drying and being chopped up finely. As a bonus, it's cheaper than many expensive supplementary premixes.

It promotes laying, feathering, growth, healing, immune strength, etc. It raises the IQ of animals and humans that consume it regularly. For an adult hen the dose is a pinch per bird per day. Pretty simple stuff to add to their feed if you soak their feed for them, which is recommended for a few reasons. (Soaked grains are easier for them to digest, healthier for them, and cheaper for you; they eat less because they are getting more out of it and the difference in health is visible). Kelp, raw garlic, soaked grains and a few other things I have found to be essential for true health. Out of all these things, kelp is the most important, as without true nutrition your body cannot function at peak nor defend itself against the daily barrage of hostile environmental factors properly.

It will cause them to show their true phenotype, so if your birds are only looking the way they do because of lack of total nutrition this will change. It can restore white or grey fur or hair to its youthful original color in aged humans and animals. Babies bred from parents that have been kept on kelp will, with every generation, get faster, smarter, healthier, and better looking. The more generations you raise on kelp, the better and better they get.

The so-called 'overmating' issue with barebacked hens I have found to be the work of a nutritionally deficient diet. Hens raised on kelp never get overmated despite me running a ratio of males to females that is often 50:50. Also it helps to not breed roosters who mix violence with mating. It's a warped instinct and often breeds true. But a hen on kelp will have very strong, shiny feathers and won't moult bare so even a rough rooster won't defeather her. But this is a controversial issue, many people simply believe it's a case of too much mating and no other cause, despite the issue still occurring in flocks of up to 100 hens to 1 rooster... Each to their own beliefs and hopefully we all find what works for us and our animals. Best wishes.