Bantie Cock with Ex~bats?

[di]

A friend of ours is interested in taking one of our boys.She has three ex~bats(over a year so well recovered etc).
I seem to remember,although very hazily,that it's not great to mix a bantie cock with proper size hens?Can cause damage when mating?
Are my memories right?
We have a choice of the banty boy...who is crowing for England,yet still so tiny for dinner,or the Buff Orpington...who is still not crowing & although it pains me to think of him as dinner & I know Orpingtons arent reknowned for their meatiness,it makes sense to keep onto him.
(Sorry.I feel so shallow referring to them as dinner,but realistically,tis what they are!)

[TPeers]

Be realistic! f they are planned for supper then that is what they are!

Never having gone the route of having a cockrel I'm not sure but I wouldn't have thought the problem would be banty cock to large fowl hen - more of the other way around!

[di]

My vague memory is that a bantie boy can harm a hen hen when trying to mount as they're obviously that much shorter?

[Polly Fouracre]

As cockerells don't have "bits" as such no harm can come to banties being mated by big cockerells unless,of course, they squash them!! If confined then the hen may be damaged by the cockerells spurs but if she has room to escape she will!!!
As for banty cocks treading big girls, where there's a will(y) there's a way!

[di]

Cheers Polly.
I think what I'd heard is that Bantie boys can cause damage with their spurs when trying to get the height to mount?
As noone has come up with a definate no,I think I'll take my friend to the lottie later to let her decide.
I've not really got a problem with eating three of the boys,we've intentionally kept them in their own coop/run & only see to their needs,Whereas two of them,the bantam & Buff Orpington,it was a little later that we knew they were boys,so they've been in the "pet" run!
One of our Legbars was doing his first crowing this morning,so could be this weekend!...sods law he's the smallest!

[TPeers]

Napoleon complex!

[di]

Well I shall let you all know tomorrow how he & they fare!Dropped him off at his new home earlier...his new ladies were already in bed so just popped him in with them & he huddled up to them.
Felt a little sad boxing him up & saying Goodbye,but they're very local & kiddies go to school together,so sure we'll get to visit lots!

[di]

How long?

Pip went to his new home on Friday night,got a call today to say he's really not happy.Being picked on constantly by the girls.
Do you think it's because of his size that he won't stand his ground or is it normal for it to take a while?
Would it be best to give it a couple more days to see if they all settle together or take him back?

[RichmondHens]

Probably a combination. He will be picked on if he is not yet sexually mature, as his hormones won't have kicked in enough for him to realise what he is there for. This may sort itself out in a few days. Bigger birds will generally pick on smaller ones, whatever age, but again, as he is a boy, hormones may right this in time. Give him a bit more time, two days is not enough for the pecking order to sort itself out.

[di]

I think it's cos he's so cute & the new owners are as soft as us at watching a bully!
Apparently he spent most of yesterday free ranging their garden & roosting in a tree,but when they're not home he needs to be in the run.
They've apparently fallen totally in love with him & hubby has suggested building him his own run,but kind of defeats the object a bit!
There was a choice between him,a CL or Norfolk Grey or Buff Orpington.We went with the bantam as the Orpington would possibly be too big & had heard horror stories about NG & CL boys being quite nasty,but reading about your CL's,I'm starting to wonder if one of them would be better?(they have young children,but they don't go in the run without supervision)

[di]

Forgot to say,when he was with us Pip was crowing loads,hasn't made a peep since being with his new girls.

[RichmondHens]

He'll start again soon enough. Tell your friends to give him at least a week, but keep him with the girls, not separately, no matter how much they seem to be beating him up. If he has space to run away he will, and that's fine.

Yes my CLs are sweeties, but I have heard of NGs being stroppy. I do think it's partly how they are raised though, although some cocks can be nice when youngsters, then change character when they are in full breeding mode.

[matthew2riches]

It all takes time......

Little pip on his own with some girlies. Thought he was a right big boy when I saw him! Not such a big boy now! lol!!

[Polly Fouracre]

Forgot to say,when he was with us Pip was crowing loads,hasn't made a peep since being with his new girls.

Little boys at primary school crow a lot when they get to the final year, they also stop for a while when they go to the BIG SCHOOL!!!

[di]

I know,I'm sure he'll be fine...he was just the One we got a real soft spot for when they were growing up...each day willing him to be a girl but each day showing more boyish traits.At least I know his new Mummy & Daddy(Daddy more so)have in just a couple of days been taken in by his charm just as much,so I'm sure no harm will come.
Matthew,I guess the day you saw him he was amongst his girlie gang...they didn't seem to notice the size thing...although the last few days Marigold started getting fed up with him crowing so he'd run away from her & hide behind the shed to let his voice be heard!
I think we may have done a stupid thing...at the time it seemed like a good idea,but we've given them one of our Norfolk Grey hens(teen)that he has grown up with & always been particularly close to.Just hoping it works as we first hoped & not that our friends now have two teens being terrorised by their old girls!(as soon as they'd gone I thought why didn't we give them two!)