Nankin Bantams

Lounge said:

Hi, I'm also in VA, and would love to know about any Nankins available near Williamsburg.

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Sorry, I just noticed you post, I am in Heathsville, Va which is about an hour and a half from the Burg but I go to West Point every weekend. I have Nankins but they aren't laying just yet. They should start as soon as this cold weather breaks for good. I'm hoping. They'll be a year old this spring so I'm hoping they'll start laying around the beginning of spring.

Hi, thanks for responding. A year before laying? I had no idea it took that long! I'm interested in Nankins as broody hens for my Bobwhites. I've just started with them, and am still gathering info at this stage. Do you free range yours at all? I've looked at hatcheries who do carry them, and they're only offered as straight run, which is problematic because I'm limited in the city. If you got yours from Williamsburg, I'd love to know who's breeding them there.

I got mine from Culpeper. There is a woman in Williamsburg that breeds them for Colonial williamsburg. Her name is Elaine. I'll have to look through my emails to see if I can find her info so you can contact her. I let mine free range everyday, they love it and they are VERY fast runners. Preds have a hard time catching them. I've only lost 1 to a pred and I'm surrounded by woods so there's lots of preds. Foxes and coyotes and lots of red tailed hawks. The roo's are very good at warning the others of preds and as soon as they see 1 and let the others know they run for cover, lol, I love watching them. Very sweet little birds if you spend a lot of time with them. They're very skittish at first though. But with lots of treats they'll warm right up to you. I havent experienced it for my self but yes I've heard they are excellent broodies. From what I've heard though, silkies are the best for brooding others eggs. Most people say Nankins can start laying as early as 6 months but I've talked to a lot of people that have said they have hens that are over a year and still aren't laying. The average laying age I think is around 9 months. I think it all depends on when they were hatched and what time of year they reach that age. I think mine probably would've been laying by now if it wasn't winter. I'll have to read up and see if you can sex Nankins as soon as they hatch. I think I read somewhere that it's really hard to differentiate between sexes when they're still young. It's hard to find any info on them cause nobody has them. There are very few people that breed them and only a small portion of those people put any info online.

Thank you, this is helpful info. Their traits - sticking together, being good foragers, fast runners, aware of predators - all of those make them specifically better at hatching out bobwhites. I'm still hoping I can trigger maternal instincts in my female, but otherwise, it's a lot better to use a bantam hen. There are some issues to overcome, I understand, such as getting the hens to trust you enough to slip quail eggs in there. Are you planning to hatch more out? I'm almost willing to risk 50% roosters on a straight run, if there are other folks interested in them. I just can't keep more than a few hens here, and would hate to have to cull roosters on such an uncommon breed.

Colonial Williamsburg has Nankins which is where we saw them.