I am looking for a rooster for my hens - 5 sex links and 2 silkies. I want him mainly to protect the ladies from daytime predators. Because of the two silkie hens, I am wondering if I need to get a bantam rooster and not a standard. I wouldn't want the girls injured by a large rooster. Will his size affect his ability to protect them (I mean I'm sure it will a bit, but is a bantam roo still an effective guardian)? Will the sexlinks take him seriously? I am starting to regret getting the silkies but I really want to keep them, so I hope to find a way to make this work. They are so cute!
Depends on the roo, so do your homework when looking for one. Some LF roos will completely ignore banties, but other will not and they could injure them. Banty roos have the same potential for attitudes and defensiveness as the LF, they just don't have the body mass. So it'll depend on what and how big the predator he's facing is.
My banty roo rules the roost. I have a very large dominant barred rock hen that terrorized all my banty hens. Added him into the coop and he straightened her behavior out. He is very protective and watchful and all the hens are well taken care of.
