Chicken Breed Focus - Japanese Bantam

Elliebeans said:

This is my little girl Suzi Q, named by my mother after the singer. She's foster mother to Miss Piggy, a Silkie only a couple of weeks younger than her but twice the size. Pig Pig's only hatch mates died so we took Suzi, the gentlest of her group and put them together. Since then they're always together, Piggy following her like a lost puppy. Suzi presents Piggy and removes whatever gets caught in her feathers and never minds when Piggy takes food from her beak. She's a very patient little girl.

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sumi said:

Also known as Chabo, the Japanese bantam is a small ornamental breed of chicken. A very old breed, they were created in Japan perhaps as early as the 7th century and imported into Europe by the sixteenth century. They are said to be quite long lived. The Japanese Bantam are a true bantam, in that it does not come in a standard size. They are a good choice for urban coops, or for the poultry lover that wants a pet that won't be too destructive to lawns. The breed is a popular show bird with hobbyists and the hens have a very sweet nature which makes them popular as pets for children.

They are a breed with a distinctive appearance, ideally with clean, very short legs, which gives them a waddling gait. The short leggedness is caused by a single lethal gene, so all birds with the desired short legs are heterozygous for the gene, embryos with two copies die before hatch and birds without the gene have regular (longer) legs. They should also be squirrel-tailed, having a very upright forward sweeping tail carriage. They have a single comb, which is usually quite large on the males, making them rather sensitive to cold and frostbite. They come in a wide variety of colors, with Black-tailed White, Black, White, and Black-tailed Buff, probably the most popular, and they are also popular frizzle feathered. The hens are poor layers, but good broodies and mothers.

It was recognized by the APA in 1874 .

Details:

Breed purpose: Ornamental
Comb Type: Single
Broodiness: Frequent, good mothers
Climate Tolerance: Heat tolerant, large combs make males prone to frostbite.
Weight: rooster 28oz, hen 22oz.
Egg Productivity: Poor
Egg Size: tiny
Egg Color: Tinted

Rooster picture by @bantambury

Hen picture by @bantambury


Breeding trio pic by @Megs


BYC Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/japanese

General breed discussions & FAQ thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/286125/japanese-bantam-thread/0_20


Do you own Japanese Bantams? Are you a Japanese Bantam breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

We have a bunch of other awesome breed-focus threads for you to enjoy. You can see all of them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-project.975504/

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