Best laying Bantams?

I find my Rosecombs and Mille Fleur Booted Bantams lay really well. I also I found that Cochins, Modern Game and OEG are moderate to good layers and Sebrights downright stink as layers.

Those are the ones I have the most experience with. I'm not sure about the RIR's, Rocks, Wyandottes etc.

I love bantams as layers though. I tell people I get an egg half the size on a quarter of the feed of a large chicken
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Cheers,
Urban Coyote
 
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from I read the old english game bantam lay the medium sized eggs and are the best layers.
I had one buff orpington bantam who laid good sized eggs and I think they are good layers.
the thing about bantams is they get broody so much of the time and so the egg supply is iffy.
 
Thanks. I think I read that the Old English Games are kind of bossy, and don't like confinement. I wouldn't want to bring on trouble. Anybody have good experiences with them?
PattyPenny- How often do they go broody and how long does it last?
 
i love my OEGs,
Princess prissy was my first broody hen, But she didnt mind my looking at the eggs and candeling them, or playing with the babys.
She is my only bantam that jumped on my shoulder when I enter the coop. My couple other OEGs are super sweet too.
I think my Cochins lay the best as far as the banties go, but the eggs are real small.
 
I think it depends on the individual birds. I have one OEGB hen that lays an egg every other day until she gets 7 eggs, then she goes broody...every time. Her last chicks have been gone for over 2 months and she has not started to lay yet. I have a dutch bantam hen that would lay 6 eggs a week until it got cold, and now she doesn't lay any. I have had her for 3 months and she has not gone broody once. I have another dutch hen that layed 7 eggs over 11 days and promptly went broody. That was her first time laying. Her chicks are close to 3 months old and they are still with her. I had an OEGB hen that would lay an egg daily until she had 14 or 15 eggs, then she would go broody.

I have found that my best laying banties are my mixes. I have a silkie/birchen game cross hen that layed eggs for a month straight before going broody, was with her chicks for 4 weeks and started laying again. I have another ameracauna mix hen that layed eggs for a month straight before going broody, but her chicks are close to 3 months old and still with her.

Like I said, it depends more on the individual birds. As for the size of the eggs of the birds I have, the ameraucana and the silkie cross lay the biggest ones, and they are not much bigger than the bantam hens. For the pure breeds that I have, definitely the OEGB's lay bigger eggs.

To answer the question in the previous post, they will go broody even if they don't have eggs. My silkie mix was brooding a golf ball for a week before I gave in and gave her some eggs.
 
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