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Cornish Bantams

Cornish Bantams come a large range of colors, from all white to triple laced. These fun yet...

General Information

Breed Purpose
Meat
Comb
Pea
Broodiness
Average
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
Low
Egg Size
Small
Egg Color
Light Brown/Cream
Breed Temperament
Easily Tamed, Friendly, Talkative & Active
Breed Colors/Varieties
Dark, White, White Laced Red, Triple Laced, Buff ect.
Breed Size
Bantam
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Cornish Bantams were first introduced to the public as Indian-Game bantams in 1887. The have the same make-up as the large fowl Cornish: Aseel, Black Red Pit Game and Black Red Malay was used to create the bantam, with the addition to crossing the bird with a Black Red Game bantam to create these bantam size birds. The Indian-Game name was officially switched to the Cornish in 1920. It is not known when the the bird was first imported to the United States, but the breed first appeared at the St. Louis show in 1904.

Cornish bantams are not good layers, with hens averaging 2 eggs per week. They are therefor more popular as meat chickens, partly due to their large breast size, which makes them an appealing table bird.

It is recognised by the American Poultry Association.

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Cornish bantam chick

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Cornish bantam hen

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Cornish bantam rooster

Latest reviews

Pros: Human-Friendly males
Decent layers
Good sustainable meaties
Cons: Not the most intelligent
Males often intolerable of each other
Not cold tolerant
My Cornish bantams are one of my favorite breeds I own. They're a bit off mentally, and we've noticed it more in the ones with round heads, but nothing that prevents them from living normally.
Purchase Price
4.42
Pros: super Friendly, cute, funny to watch run around, larger eggs for bantams when they lay, don't peck other chickens, not aggressive.
Cons: non I can think of!
I've had 8 bantam cornish over my chicken owning times and still have two of them Holy and Beatrice. They are seriously the sweetest chickens ever. My Holy is probably around 3 years old now (id have to check to make sure) and she has grown A LOT no like really A LOT! She is a bantam and was maintaining weight but then started gaining again! Beatrice won Grand Champion of all Poultry at my county fair and there was a lot of poultry!
Pros: Not overly aggressive with others, likes to "help" with chores, pretty in sunlight
Cons: Loud, heavy, not counting on for eggs
My dark cornish bantam pullet named Loudy got her name for a reason. As a chick, she was very, very loud. She was very flighty and would "alert" the other chicks anytime I was in the room and did something she didn't like. Now, she is only really loud during feeding time, or if I am across the yard and all the chickens are trying to get my attention. She is not as flighty now, but she does not like being touched. She will jump onto my lap and talk to me, but will hop off promptly if I try to touch her. Overall, I do like her because of her personality, but don't think I will be looking for another to add to my flock.
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Comments

I saw a pair in Purdue Vt. about 20 years ago. I thought through the years I would find a pair and buy them. Never did happen so I started looking to see who had them. Located some from "Ideal" and ordered 15. Out of the 15 chicks I ended up with 7 males. The color of the flock has more varience then I would like. I do have a few that look like your girl, a few darker red, and a few lighter. Roosters are all over... two that I wanted, one almost all white, others lot darker with little pattern to them. Not sure how I am going to move foward with them this coming spring. My objective is develop a flock that all looks the same and breeds true. Either way will be fun trying. Any thoughts from others who have a flock of them, I would love to hear about your flock and breeding, or breeding stock hatchery. Have a good one.
 
The red laced hen does not look to bad for a Hatchery bird. Get with me after the first of the year and I may be able to help you out..Thanks. TMA
 
I'm not normally interested in bantams, but i wound up with these. They manage quite well with all the large birds, probably because they fly well and have strong character. For such little birds, they do yield a nice, meaty carcass between 1.5 and 2 pounds for cockerels, so about the size of a normal grocery store fryer!
 
I'm not normally interested in bantams, but i wound up with these. They manage quite well with all the large birds, probably because they fly well and have strong character. For such little birds, they do yield a nice, meaty carcass between 1.5 and 2 pounds for cockerels, so about the size of a normal grocery store fryer!
Hi There - I was wondering how old were the bantam cockerels when they were processed for meat. I'm leader of a 4H poultry club, and we're working to create a class for bantam meat birds for our show. Thanks!
 
“Hi There - I was wondering how old were the bantam cockerels when they were processed for meat. I'm leader of a 4H poultry club, and we're working to create a class for bantam meat birds for our show. Thanks!”
Realizing that this is an old post, I wanted to respond because there’s just not enough info out there for this breed.
It took about 6mos for the roos to gain enough size, being fed normal chick starter and all-flock. The guy we got them from was using regular chick feed, but we switched over to all-flock when they were old enough.
It’s our first time with these birds,
and plan to experiment with higher protein feeds this time.

I just put a few eggs in the incubator to see how they do. So far, neither of my hens have gone broody.
 

Item information

Category
Chicken Breeds
Added by
Whittni
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Comments
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Reviews
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Last update
Rating
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