Bantams

[thylton]

I am thinking about rasing bantams in a catawba chicken ark; what bantams are good layers? I know bantams do not lay are well as standards but it would be nice to have some eggs.

thylton

 

[acid_chipmunk]

My Mille Fleur d'Uccles are egg laying machines. They lay a pretty little cream egg just about every day.

 

[Jacklynn]

Bantam Cochins !
Okay, so they aren't the best layers & I'm biased, they are nice to look at, so that makes up for the eggs.

 

[Carrie Lynn]

My Bantam Leghorn is a good layer, and sweet too.

 

[Harrietsmum]

I have bantamised LF layers. The eggs weigh between 36 and 44 grams. Austrolorp lays every 2nd day. Wyandottes 5 eggs a week. The two Cochin X Araucana lay every single day, and they lay the largest eggs. They are lovely gentle birds and easy to handle. You will love having bantams, whether they are true bantams or bantamised LF birds.

 

[Lisa202]

I have bantam EE's and brahmas and so far they are all about 6 eggs a week.

 

[shellybean40]

My 3 bantam cochins lay a LOT of eggs!! I have 3 hens and I get 2-3 eggs every day!!

 

[abqferreira]

When our Bantams are laying, they lay almost every day. That being said, they tend to get ideas into their heads that make them stop laying for months at a time! I bought 3 Banties a year ago. Two of them started laying at about 20 weeks, then one of them developed a crop issue and hasn't layed since about last June or July. The second one went broody in mid-July and we gave her fertile eggs to hatch. She stopped laying until about 3 weeks ago (took about 6 months off!) The third one went broody in early November, but we didn't let her have eggs, and she has never layed an egg until about 3 weeks ago.

I definitely wouldn't count on them as your sole source of eggs, but when we do get those cute little eggs in the box, they are a sweet addition.