I have kept lots of different breeds of bantam chicken... But the breed I started with is still my firm favorite.... Japanese Bantams.
They are very friendly, docile to hold and pet, great egg layers and super parents. The roosters are so beautiful and come in all sorts of colours.. and they have a placid nature... all my roosters live well together... and I have never had a problem of they overbreeding the hens.
The chicks are like little cotton wool balls.. with tiny legs.
The roosters crows are quite quiet (for a rooster) and the sound does not carry far.
Pretty birds! I love bantams too. For being broody -- bantams still lay a lot of eggs, are generally docile birds, and seem to do better in bad weather than large fowl. Not very many people consider bantams as practical but they've been our best birds in the long run.
Silkies were our first backyard chickens and they've outlasted all our other breeds of chickens. Our oldest is a 6-year-old Partridge Silkie. The Black one is 51/2 and these bantams are great in all kinds of climate.
In 21/2 weeks these are eggs from just the old Black Silkie. Who says old chickens are useless past their pullet year?