Are bantam breeds just generally calmer and sweeter?

wbruder17

Songster
9 Years
Jun 7, 2010
1,661
19
153
Portland, OR
As you can read in my little personal comment on the bottom, I have several different breeds of chickens, all of which I have raised from little itty biddies.

Although my EEs are extremely friendly and inquisitive, and aside from my Birchen Cochin, all of my banties are, in general, much less afraid of me, come right up to my hand to check things out, and do not run away from me when I want to pick them up.

I try to handle all my chickens as much as possible, but many are more prone to flightiness, of course. It just seems that the banties are more likely to be cuddly, from chicks through adulthood.
 
I don't know if all banties are a lot sweeter, but my bantam Cochin is pretty darn friendly and docile. She coos and is very squat-crazy. But my EE's will jump on my back if I bend down
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Years ago I had a white chochin banty hen that was soooo sweet, and loved to be carried like a baby. On the other hand, I had a banty barred rock hen that was very aloof, even with the rest of the flock. BUT, if she had chicks with her, she would ATTACK anything that came within 5 feet of them!
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We're talking chickens, horses, pigs, sheep, dogs, cats, and people!!! She was a darn good mama though, and all of her chicks grew to adulthood.
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for the most part, banties are bred just for show, decoration, pets, yard art, etc....and seeing as they dont have any other purpose, I can see people breeding them to be more friendly so they can be handled/shown easier...the bigger chickens are bred for more meat, better egg production, more commercial minded people bred a lot of them up, so their attitude has not been as big an issue in breeding....just my opinion...
 
No not all banties are sweet, but some are. Growing up I had a little gray(who knows what exact breed) banty named Mouse who was as friendly as a kitten, loved to be picked up, followed us around constantly. But the meanest rooster we ever owned was a banty too. Now my silkies are definitely the loviest of my current chickens but I have seen other banties especially those with gamefowl in the background that can be very aggressive. Lot of bantam breeds, lots of different personalities.
 

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