I saw bantam chickens yesterday for the first time, they were adorable. I have regular size and am wondering what people keep bantams for? are they just for show or fun, I can't imagine they have very large eggs. do you keep them for eggs? or just the fun of it. they are so cute!
I keep them because they have great personalities, and most importantly they dont massacre my plants. I had a Buff Orphington hen I decided to get off Craigslist one day and put her out with my bantams I was appalled at the HUGE scrapes and holes she dug in my yard. She tore up my plants, I mean ate roots and all I gave her back and decided to stick with the bantams.
We bought them for kid friendly and broodiness. Although still kid friendly, they will not set on any egg for longer than 2 weeks. However, we do have some of our egg customers who buy their eggs. They request them with their large egg orders. Usually for younger children, or for kids they are trying to get them to eat an egg.
In most instances bantams are kept more for exhibition than for their productivity. Some bantam breeds like the Rhode Island Reds & the Wyandottes lay fairly well and lay an egg that is medium in size. The advantages of keeping bantams, other than their attractiveness, are many. They eat less, are easier to handle & require less space. For the backyard fancier the latter is particularly important.
Quote:I don't know what kind of bantams you've got, but every bantam hen I have ever had has been hatch CRAZY. Trust me, I've had hundreds and they sit on their eggs until they hatch and make excellent mothers. I had a bantam hen last year that hatched 12 babies in one batch and then fostered another 12, making that a total of 24 chicks that she raised, all at one time.
I have a lot of bantams and I love 'em. I have 2 RIR banty hens & 1 red sexlink who have hatched 4 batches of chicks, and they made great mothers. I also have other banty hens that don't seem to have any desire to be broody. They lay small eggs, but just use 2 in place of 1 standard egg. My DS has several banties for 4-H for show, and they have the best personalities. They eat less, take up less room, and they seem to be a little more friendly than my standards.
Y'all are killing me!! Went to the chicken show and fell in love with the bantam brahmas and wyandottes. But I'm only allowed four hens so I figured I should get LF. I'd never live down having to buy eggs with chooks in the yard. But <sigh> I dream of a mixed flock of banty brahmas, faverolles, wyandottes, orps, and EEs!! But DH is very very proud of his yard-it might be safer for us all to have bantams.
