Bad Luck Bantams

[thecatumbrella]

Love the video. I hang cabbage for mine. I must try apple. Love how they track the swings and spins to land the perfect mouthful!

It’s ruined them for all other snacks. They weren’t even interested in the cabbage I hung yesterday!

 

[RoyalChick]

It’s ruined them for all other snacks. They weren’t even interested in the cabbage I hung yesterday!

I toss them my apple cores which used to be big favorites and then they went off apple. I am curious to see if hanging it makes them like apple again.
With mine, cabbage never goes out of style.
I like cabbage too - and it gets so I feel guilty when I slice off about a third of it for myself!

 

[NatJ]

the chicks I got from Meyer...
Splash Ameraucana...is VERY small (even for a bantam).

Have you weighed that chicken and compared with the correct weight for that breed? Many bantams from hatcheries are larger than they are "supposed" to be, so I wonder if your small one is actually undersized, or if it is the only one that is actually the correct size for its breed.

Female Ameraucana bantams are supposed to weigh about 24 ounces as pullets, and 26 ounces as mature hens:
https://ameraucana.org/Ameraucana Standard

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Have you weighed that chicken and compared with the correct weight for that breed? Many bantams from hatcheries are larger than they are "supposed" to be, so I wonder if your small one is actually undersized, or if it is the only one that is actually the correct size for its breed.

Female Ameraucana bantams are supposed to weigh about 24 ounces as pullets, and 26 ounces as mature hens:
https://ameraucana.org/Ameraucana Standard

I have not weighed her. She feels like she weighs less than 1 lb (she feels like nothing, there's no way she's more than 16oz), and based on sight compared to my other bantams. However, I do know that the other bantam breeds I have are naturally a bit larger, but only about 6oz more (if Dinky were the correct weight). Her legs are also about 1/2 the length of the photo on Meyer's website and she has terrible feather shredding. She ain't right.
Here she is next to a bantam Cochin (Pekin):

This shows her feather shredding (and the fact that you can't even see her teeny legs):

These bottom 2 pics are from people who reviewed the breed on Meyer's website:

My girl's got issues....

We still love her.

 

[thecatumbrella]

I have not weighed her. She feels like she weighs less than 1 lb (she feels like nothing, there's no way she's more than 16oz), and based on sight compared to my other bantams. However, I do know that the other bantam breeds I have are naturally a bit larger, but only about 6oz more (if Dinky were the correct weight). Her legs are also about 1/2 the length of the photo on Meyer's website and she has terrible feather shredding. She ain't right.
Here she is next to a bantam Cochin (Pekin):
View attachment 4213669
This shows her feather shredding (and the fact that you can't even see her teeny legs):
View attachment 4213667
These bottom 2 pics are from people who reviewed the breed on Meyer's website:View attachment 4213672
View attachment 4213674
My girl's got issues....

We still love her.

She's full grown?? That's really, really small. My bantams are also from Meyers, so I have a good comparison with your Pekin. My d'Uccle is probably twice your EE's size. She feels substantial in hand as well. Probably close to 1.5 lbs.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

She's full grown?? That's really, really small. My bantams are also from Meyers, so I have a good comparison with your Pekin. My d'Uccle is probably twice your EE's size. She feels substantial in hand as well. Probably close to 1.5 lbs.

Yep. She is over a year old.

**She's not an EE, she is a true AmeRAUcana bantam (at least according to Meyer)...

 

[thecatumbrella]

Yep. She is over a year old.

**She's not an EE, she is a true AmeRAUcana bantam (at least according to Meyer)...

Oh, my apologies. How dare I lump her in with those mongrels! She is super adorable. Does she lay eggs? Can you even crack them open at that size?

 

[ChickenChick46]

I have not weighed her. She feels like she weighs less than 1 lb (she feels like nothing, there's no way she's more than 16oz), and based on sight compared to my other bantams. However, I do know that the other bantam breeds I have are naturally a bit larger, but only about 6oz more (if Dinky were the correct weight). Her legs are also about 1/2 the length of the photo on Meyer's website and she has terrible feather shredding. She ain't right.
Here she is next to a bantam Cochin (Pekin):
View attachment 4213669
This shows her feather shredding (and the fact that you can't even see her teeny legs):
View attachment 4213667
These bottom 2 pics are from people who reviewed the breed on Meyer's website:View attachment 4213672
View attachment 4213674
My girl's got issues....

We still love her.

I'm glad you posted this. This is the exact breed I was planning to order from Meyer come spring. I was going to get about 10 straight run and sell any excess males beyond one.

But with this, and the experience @thecatumbrella has posted here, I'm not so sure I'll be ordering bantams at all. It's a shame because I really want this breed, and I'm not sure where else to get splash Ameraucana bantams.

I've got an order coming from Meyer at the end of this month, but not bantams. I'm already concerned enough about it from the horror stories I've read here. If it doesn't go well, it isn't likely I'll order chicks from anywhere again.

 

[ChickyCh00k]

How dare I lump her in with those mongrels!

Not at all! I love EE's... I just felt the need to make the delineation for some reason. (I might be a chicken snob)

Does she lay eggs? Can you even crack them open at that size?

She lays a few blue eggs per week and they are TINY!

 

[ChickyCh00k]

I'm glad you posted this. This is the exact breed I was planning to order from Meyer come spring. I was going to get about 10 straight run and sell any excess males beyond one.

But with this, and the experience @thecatumbrella has posted here, I'm not so sure I'll be ordering bantams at all. It's a shame because I really want this breed, and I'm not sure where else to get splash Ameraucana bantams.

I've got an order coming from Meyer at the end of this month, but not bantams. I'm already concerned enough about it from the horror stories I've read here. If it doesn't go well, it isn't likely I'll order chicks from anywhere again.

Everyone has unique experiences with every hatchery. I've gotten chicks from The Chick Hatchery (which I found out later is a "middle man" for other hatcheries - I think mine actually came from Cackle Hatchery and I got TWO extra in that order) and those have been my healthiest by far. I also got really healthy and beautiful chicks from Mt. Healthy Hatchery (they sent one extra chick), and then Meyer - I ordered 7, they sent 0 extra chicks, and I lost one of the 2 Splash Ameraucana bantams I ordered the day after arrival (and the other one is little Dinky pictured above), and I also lost one of my 2 Bielefelders from them before she even started laying (she just dropped dead in the middle of the night - I have cameras in the coop).

I know lots of other people have had good experiences with Meyer (they have the highest ratings of the big hatcheries on Google). I likely will not order from them again even though they have desirable breeds, because I don't want to chance it. However, you can see from the photos that people posted in the reviews on the website, that they have gotten really nice looking Splash Ameraucana bantams. It's just one of those things - almost a roll of the dice - if you're going to have a good or bad experience with ANY hatchery.