Standard rooster with bantams

[Cockstrongorcocksure]

So I have a standard faverolle rooster entering maturity with 7 standard sized hens, 3 bantam cochins and 1 little silky. They are all starting to lay and he's starting to attempt mating. I stopped him from mounting one of my bantams the other day and now I'm worried. Should I start a separate bantam flock or would it be okay to find a bantam cochin rooster and integrate him? Our coop is plenty big enough and they would each have around 12 ft run space, can this work at all?

 

[TOMTE]

Do you have pics of them together so we can see his size compared to the hens? Do you know how much they weigh?

Hens squat for a rooster so that they can take his weight without injury to their legs and hips (and also to make it easier for him to mount. If they don't want him to mount, they won't squat).

There is a possibility of injury still but mating is pretty quick so I don't think it's all that common.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Should I start a separate bantam flock or would it be okay to find a bantam cochin rooster and integrate him? Our coop is plenty big enough and they would each have around 12 ft run space, can this work at all?

The only way to stop a rooster from mounting a certain hen is to separate them so they can't get together. That would mean a separate coop and run or really good partitions.

TOMTE is correct, during a mating the hen squats so the rooster's weight goes into the ground through her body, not just her legs and joints. That way a hen is protected even with a larger rooster. Some people run large fowl roosters with bantam hens without problems, but the more difference there is in their weights the higher the risk is.

Your Favorelle rooster should be a big boy, 10 to 11 pounds. Your Cochin Bantam hens probably weigh less than 2 pounds. They may look bigger but a lot of that is feathers. I'd be concerned.