HI All, I wanted to post a question about size. I know that when you hear bantam that means a smaller size chicken of various breeds. But I get asked this A lot...bantams ARE not a specific BREED...it just refers to their size right? Some folks really had me convinced otherwise after a long discussion...but trying to correct this know it all would just keep it going. And also...how can you tell if a chick is Bantam size or Standard when you are buying from the bin at the feed store? They are smaller...but standard chicks are small too depending on the breed. Is it truly a crap shoot? Hope you understood my ramblings!
Well, generally speaking, bantam refers to size, not breed. However, there are booted bantams, and Japanese bantams, and I believe that those are actual breeds. http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGK/Millies/BRKMilleFleur.html http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGD/Japs/BRKJap.html
Well if you want to be technical there are bantams and large fowl. A bantam can be a specific breed, as there are some bantams that don't have a large fowl counterpart, such as serama. I would think a feed store would have them in seperate containers, but maybe not.