Chickens

[happy hen]

the bantam cockerel wouldn't be stressed at all. He would mate with the large fowl hens. They would also be able to get through the large holes in the fence. Just out of interest why would you keep the large fowl in the run and let the bantams out? Just wondering as I can't see why.
I don't know of any breeders in Kent who rear the way I do I'm afraid. You would have to phone some and ask them.

Cheers
Having kept bantams before I found them a lot less destructive in the garden than the larger birds.The wyandotte colouring is so gorgeous it seems a shame not to be able to see them from the window (I know that's a terrible reason as I love my larger birds, but my husband also loves his borders!) My larger birds do come out freeranging quite frequently, more so in the summer when the ground is drier and they are less inclined to trash things. Maybe I was lucky in the past or unlucky now and some hens are more destructive than others.

 

[starrynightxxi]

lovely birds. Especially the bantams. When I was 12 I got chased down a barn aisle by a pair of bantam roosters. Pesky little things, but very pretty Personally i'm a fan of the polish chickens.

Do you keep more than one male together or do you seperate them? I have heard repeatedly that more than one male will cause fatalities but the farm I used to work on has no specific gender ratio between the turkeys, chickens, guineas (i imagine, how could you tell), and peacocks that are all together and there's never any fights.

 

[fenwoman]

lovely birds. Especially the bantams. When I was 12 I got chased down a barn aisle by a pair of bantam roosters. Pesky little things, but very pretty Personally i'm a fan of the polish chickens.

Do you keep more than one male together or do you seperate them? I have heard repeatedly that more than one male will cause fatalities but the farm I used to work on has no specific gender ratio between the turkeys, chickens, guineas (i imagine, how could you tell), and peacocks that are all together and there's never any fights.

It depends on the breed. My cochins can be kept as a groups woth more than one cockerel as long as they have grown up together. However since I bred pure bred fowl of different breeds I keep one male only with 2 ormore females. However at this time of year O let all of the bantams out in the paddock together where they get on in winter and have enough room to avoid each other if one gets tetchy. Serious fighting results in the troublemaker being put into an ark by himself. I will start splitting them all up into breeding pens again in the next month before hormones start causing hassle.