John,
I had multiple problems breeding bantams to large fowl but much of it had to do with the individual and breed temperments. Sumatra hens ruthlessly killed every bantam male I introduced so I had no choice but to mate sumatra males over bantam females. The gigantic (by comparison) Spanish bred the bantam silkie hens with no trouble, the bantam males on the other hand had trouble catching the large fowl hens and treading them. I fixed the latter issue simply by close confinement, I put the pairs in 18\" x 18\" rabbit cages. Conversly, my Japanese males can tread any size hen regardless of where they are, lol. As with most things, situations and conditions dictate how every thing plays out.
Mike,
Please accept my apologies for not responding to the point you made. It wasn\'t intentional. I do agree with you, and with John, about weights being in compliance with the standards. John\'s point about not knowing just by looking is a sore subject in some circles, equally for good & bad reasons. I\'m willing to bet cash money that nobody has seen a scale at a show in over 10 years. I\'ve heard stories of exhibitors getting highly aggitated and leaving shows at the mear threat of a scale being pulled out of moth balls. My personal feeling on the matter.......... use scales. Proper feathering also comes in to play when considering weight and the trend I\'ve noticed over the last several years is to make birds fluffier or have looser feathering. A cochin feathered leghorn would look like an 8 pound giant, lol.
That being said, actual weights within my own flocks isn\'t directly in my focus at this point. What I\'m looking at for the time being is general confirmation, correctness of colorations and patterns and basic production characteristics. In my mind\'s eye, weight is lumped in with many of the other \"fine tuning\" points that I\'ll be taking in to consideration after I\'ve gotten the macro-traits locked in. Selecting for a slightly over sized flock is, IMHO, far simpler to correct than having them be too small.
I would like to point out that it is a good idea in any flock to keep specimens that cover a slight range. Aside from keeping a \'healthy level\' of genetic variation within a flock, having a few birds that are slightly over-size, a few under-size and the median of the flock just right, the breeder will have the necessary genes around to fix minor variations later on. In other words, instead of having to go out and find a smaller or larger male to fix a size issue within my flock, I would have related birds already.
Dan