What Bantam is this? - Page 2

One thing about the Nankin that might be questionable is that the black on her tail and wing feathers is not as distinct and black as I understand should be on a Nankin, however. there could both be a possible bloodline quality weakness here, but also reading on Nankins, one weakness I've seen mentioned is the fading of the body color as well as the black in the tails and wings on older hens....we have no way of knowing how old this hen is, but looking at her legs, beak, etc, she's obviously a mature hen. Perhaps older.

The slate legs, and the egg laying qualities, just kept bringing me back to Nankin over serama. Again, I am not expereinced with bantams, at all, now or in the past, but I've tried to look at everything I could find on the web about both Serama's and Nankins.....Also, my daighter caught glimpses of a few of the others fleeing from the dogs, and said they all looked pretty much alike, as to color, all shades of the wheaten/gold color, except a couple obvious roosters. And there seems more color variation common in Seramas, while all Nankins are those shades. As far as we know, none of the others still srurive, or at least, haven't been seen since then.

Jenell

Well, I was thinking I might like to do that, IF I could find out what she is and where to get more like her. As I said, it is not just her as a sweet little chicken herself, and being so small as to be comfortable in a bird cage that I can keep protected indoors from predators, but being such an impressive egg layer, I wouldn't mind her having a friend or two, or maybe even a husband and a sister-wife. I have even a 12 yr old animal loving grand daughter that lives in the city, that just loves my "Chicken Little." that is excited about the idea of maybe being able to keep her own little egg laying chickens in a bird cage in her bedroom or on their patio! She loves the chickens her country cousins have, but can't have them where she lives. But she could have several of these. IF I could find out what she is, others that have these qualities.

Jenell

Btw, while I raised 'farm chickens' many years, I never had bantams, but the only bantams I'd seen others have were quite larger than this, and mostly pretty 'gamey' and wild,...that's why people I knew kept them, they were able to better survive predators as free range farm chickens. I had NO idea there were such tiny full grown chickens as this until we found this one, and I started browsing the web..

BTW, isn't this hen a rose comb?

Jenell

I was hoping someone with some Nankin experience would notice and chime in here with their opinion on this! Thanks! While i was still holding open the possiblity of Serama, the slate legs and most of all the egg laying just didn't seem to fit, unless there are some unusually productive seramas out there not typical of the things I've been finding on the web. I had also figured out seramas seem more popular and common, I've found ads like on Craiglist for a few seramas reasonably nearby, but not Nankins, but then also, know what we do about where she came from, their history with other fancy birds, I was still considering the chance of Nankin, even though they may have had to go out of their way to get them.

Is her egg laying, both egg size, and being quite productive, typical, or close, in the Nankins you've had experience with? Of course, I've only had her since November, she began laying in mid to late December, and this is just February, so I don't yet know how long she will keep this up, how many months of the year or total per year she will produce. But I'm taking what she has done so far as a pretty good indicator she's an overall good layer. Seems back when I kept regular chickens, those that were better layers in the long run were also the ones that would have excellent peak production, while those that laid fewer total weeks of the year also seldome hit really excellent daily production even at their peak.

I really do not know enough about chicken genetics to know whether production or egg size is inhereted more through the hen or the rooster, whether these are traits she'd contribute to her daughters or not. I've had a good bit of experience genetics in breeding dogs,(I bred, showed, did some judging, AKC, about 30 yrs)  but not chickens.Mostly back when I kept chickens for dual use, I preferred and kept mostly White Rocks, occasionally barred Rocks. they rarely (if ever!) went broody, we usually just replenished with purchased day old chicks occasionally rather than incubate.  

But I am just so impressed with this little girl, as well as fascinated by her sweet little size that I can keep like this.

I am honored at your offer to send her some friends. I have no idea what shipping chickens involves....is it relatively simple and inexpensive like shipping chicks through postal, or are they shipped live air cargo at the airport, like dogs? North Cal to SE Texas where I am is a long way.

Jenell

Ah, yes, Gryeyes, that, she most certainly is!

Jenell