[Kier]

We currently have 3 bantam cockerals,The original plan was as we cant get rid of them they would end up in the pot however I'm considering keeping one and letting him run with my "normal" girls in the hope they will breed and i can have some cross chickens for the pot. Is it possible for a bantam cock to mate with full size girls??? the size difference would seem a little ambitious.My hens are 1 maran,2 light sussex and a hybrid silvery thing.I'm quite surprised by how quiet the crow of the bantam is,even when he;s going full pelt it really isnt that loud in comparison to the light sussex cockeral we used to own.
Also would a bantam/hen cross have alot of meat for the pot?

[shetlandpaul]

yes they can manage quite well our girls will confirm that. but why would you plan on breeding smaller birds.

[Kier]

Due to the neighbours we cant really keep a full sized cockeral however a bantam cock seems a good compromise as they arent that loud and the neighbours seem quite taken by them,I dont really want to breed small birds but a large cockeral is out of the question at the moment.

[shetlandpaul]

buy in some day olds. that way you get proper meat birds without the need of the sound effects.

[Roxy]

I am not so sure about bantam cockerels being quieter ......I have 8 bantam and bantam x cockerels, and they have a good loud crow on them!!

I  run my buff laced bantam cockerels with the normal hens, but these are quite big anyway.  Some of the chicks turn out bantam sized, and others normal hen sized.