Size of rooster compared to hens

[Agathe]

I've just hatched a batch of Cream Legbar chicks. We have a flock of birds already, most are mixed breeds, but there's one Orpington. The rest are a mix of Australops and Lohman or both of those plus Orpington. Out of all the roosters we started with, the one we ended up keeping was also the largest. He is now 3 years old. We've had some issue with wear on his favorite hen in the beginning but there is no visible rooster wear at the moment.

I'm new to Cream Legbars and I am not sure how large they will be compared to our previous birds. My concern is if the hens are considerably smaller, whether our rooster could be too large for them? We have the option of culling our current rooster and keeping one of the chicks as our new guy, but this is also a bit risky as our current rooster is very good with his hens and you never really know how they turn out until they mature.

What would you do in this situation? I can keep one or two roosters until they are old enough to move in with the rest of the flock to monitor behaviour and personality, but I'm not able to keep all of them. Ideally we'd like to keep our current rooster and change him out next year.

 

[Rock17]

IMO, if he is good with hens then you should not cull him. You don’t want to cull him then realise that you can’t find another good rooster. How big is he? If he is too big you can make a seperate enclosure for the cream legbars

 

[Rock17]

I would prioritise the rooster you have already. I would not cull him (kill or take away from breeding). If the cream legbars are too small you can section off an area for them.

 

[aart]

What would you do in this situation?

I've had many CLB under a large Black Copper Marans.
Made great Olive Eggers....no problem with mating.

Normally a hen will crouch to the ground to support that weight on her back. If the cock has decent technique, there should be no physical risk.

 

[SueT]

I have a tiny Sebright hen in my flock, the only bantam. The large Spitzhauben rooster mates w her, and we have the offspring to prove it. She's now 7 years old, and still fine.

 

[Agathe]

Thank you all of you for very helpful replies! I'll keep our old rooster then and see how it goes.

 

[SourRoses]

Our huge English Orpington rooster had no problems with hens half his size, and even with Leghorn hens who were only about 1/3rd of his size. The last ones looked really awkward, he often ended up standing on the ground with at least one foot rather than on them, but he got the job done when he figured out how, lol.
We now have his grandson with hens that run from half size to the same size, one of the smallest is his favorite, with no issues so far.

I feel like temperament really plays a role... if the roo is too aggressive he can really hurt the hen, and while that's true no matter what size she may be, the smaller ones have more trouble getting away or fighting back, and his comparable force is much larger.
The only rooster I've had truly hurt a hen was a small, barely large fowl size, and the hen was the same size. He scalped her in his efforts to breed her as she wouldn't comply, I had to put her down and cull him, the poo-head.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thank you all of you for very helpful replies! I'll keep our old rooster then and see how it goes.

Basically what they said. Any rooster can possibly hurt any hen. Some of that is the rooster's technique. Some is how much the hen cooperates with him. That is based on his personality and her personality. The more size difference the more the possibility of her getting hurt. As long as she squats and does not try to get away once he grabs her head you should be OK. When she squats she gets her body in the ground so the rooster's weight goes into the ground through her body, not through her legs. That means the pressure is a whole lot less.