Quote:
If that a rhetorical question, ignore this answer.
I can't think why I'd want a bantam Delaware. I'm trying really hard to figure out what any of the advantages might be. It's not like I haven't had a Standard Delaware before. But they were like any other chicken. I like their plumage design, but not enough to buy more any time soon. Bantams in general aren't that interesting to me. I do have a couple just for fun, but one is a Cochin and the other is a Sebright. I got them because they were closing them out at the feed store because
no one else wanted them and there were about 30 bantams chicks they were trying to get rid of. Bantams seem impractical, but are cute. Something different. But I wouldn't build a flock of them because I prefer bigger eggs. Can you just imagine how many bantams I would step on? I have enough trouble with standard size chickens. Also, in my mind, and I'm probably just uninformed, I think of bantams as being able to fly and, therefore, more difficult to manage. (keep out of the garden or catch) I think of them wanting to get in the trees. I think of the males as being more aggressive than Standard size males. They lay a smaller egg. I've heard they lay less frequently which means more chickens to have to keep track of for the same weight in eggs. I think I've also heard that because of their size they don't always do so well in winters where it gets below freezing for months on end.
Now, of course, none of what I've written above may be based on fact. That's sort of how market research is ... finding out how people see the product, what their biases are, what they views are, their perceptions ... whether they're wrong or right. That way the marketer of bantam Delawares can already have all the answers to any possible reasons for not buying the bantam Delawares. So that's what I think of when I think of bantams. I have no idea what others think of when they think of bantams.
Yeah, I'm not trying to be rude or hurt anyone's feelings. I'm trying to give you honest information (my perception) for your market research and I think the market research is a great idea. I know people get attached to breeds and their chickens. I do, too. I just can't think why I'd want a bantam Delaware. Sorry.
It was only halfway rhetorical. I really appriciate the feedback, but on alot of points you are wrong. AND THAT IS OK! With bantams it depends on the breed. For example, I have been breeding silver sebrights (a true bantam) for years now. They lay in spurts and fertility is very low the closer to the SOP you get. However, I get a egg a day from my bantam Dels religiously through the winter even. I find bantams are a million times easier to keep than standards. And in hundereds of bantams I have never had one rooster be any meaner than my nicest standard roo. Now, I have had standard roosters that were beyond mean and into the vicious catagory.
With all that said, I do no eat eggs. I just hate them. I breed for the sake of having chickens. I love chicken meat and you can eat a bantam as much as you can eat a standard... again some breeds would have more meat than others (think cornish bantam verses leghorn bantams).
I don't think you are being rude at all... I want to hear what the general public thinks.
Oh, also, for show... bantams are much more popular, easier to handle and much easier to transport.
I got to say also that some bantams are bigger than others.... that is all I will say right now... well, that and bantam barnevelder's eggs are bigger than some leghorns I have seen. (since eatting eggs are your desire)
