Bantam help needed - WHAT are we? Red chicks

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Every morning I wake up thinking today IS the day I will know……when I lay my head down at night, I must confess to myself that day was NOT the day.

Hopefully

TODAY is.

Ok, my Bantam dilemma. WHAT are these cuties? They are just starting their 7th week of life and are incredibly s-l-o-w to feather. Believe I have a cockerel and pullet. The research I have done has left me with two possible choices (BUT I am certainly wrong!). Could they be RIR or Cornish?

I DO know they are Bantams. (click on the pics for a larger photo)

Here is Woody – believe he is a roo.








Here is Woodstock – believe she is a pullet.







This a group shot from when they were first brought home.



Here is a bit of an older pic – duckling is a homegrown call mutt and the reason for the Bantam purchase – Peepers (duckling) needed friends.



ANY help is fantastic. Thank you all.

 

[Chris09]

Where did you get them?

They are Rhode Island Reds the slow growing feathers might be a number of things (how much protein is in the feed you are useing?)
Chris

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

RIR - thank you. Have noticed the feathers are starting to get lots of black barring/markings.

Bantams were a feed store purchase. The feed store orders from Privett Hatchery. I did try calling the hatchery to ask about them and was told "we raise 35 different RED bantams" - so they were not alot of help (who KNEW there were 35 different red bantams

.

All chicks are eating Purina flock raiser (protein at 20%) free choice, and when outside (approx 7am to 8pm) have access to greens (grass/weeds) and misc bugs they catch.

They do not have broken, missing or plucked feathers - all development looks good, blood feathers have good growth, it is just they are slow (rest of flock has feathered out but these two). All chicks get a bit of "billing" nestling from the duckling Peepers but nothing destructive to the feathers/shafts.

 

[Dustin Biery]

They are both males. And this is probably the reason for the slow feathering. I have noticed in the RIR that I have raised, the males tend to feather much slower than the females.

 

[GracefulBantams]

Looks like nice, dark RIRs

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Both Roos - wow - out of 5 chicks, only one pullet.

Can I pick 'em or what! (I pointed them out in the brooder as to which I would take home)

 

[txchickie]

Huh....I didn't know there were RIR bantams. Learn something new every day LOL

I would have said some sort of cornish, I have several bantams that look like yours (different colors, although I have one red one like yours) and they are all cornish, I thought. Mine are all pullets, and how I did that I'll never know, but they also seemed slow to feather in.

 

[Chris09]

All my RIR feathers grow slow roosters and hens I think its a breed thing..
Chris....

 

[GracefulBantams]

Quote:
Sorry, I am not sure if you are being serious or not, but there are indeed RIR Bantams!

 

[txchickie]

Quote:
Sorry, I am not sure if you are being serious or not, but there are indeed RIR Bantams!

I was being serious! LOL, I had no idea. I thought that the only RIR's were full sized birds. Neat!