Calling all Bantam Rosecomb lovers and haters

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Tell me about your Bantam Rosecombs please.

I am looking for personal experience here. Had them/still have them and love them – why?. Had them/would never have again –why?

Most of what I have read (personal web sites, Rosecomb Federation site) state they are hard to raise – why?

What is the worst thing about them? What is the best?

I currently have three and find them fascinating……and am trying to decide just how fascinating I find them. Enjoy what I have or (gulp)

get a couple more.

Thank you all.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Bump

 

[Msbear]

I just love mine. They are excellent foragers. I've seen a week old chick take down a full grown praying mantis

Many have said they tend to be flighty but my line is incredibly docile. My roo will nap on my lap. He does chase me around the yard.. picking up gravel and crowding me. They have a major Napoleon complex

He wants to tell me what to do and is the boss of the barnyard.

They also make great watchdogs!! I know when someone is looking at my house, cause he'll belt out the all too familiar bawk bawk b-gok.

The hens are great mothers... don't lay too many eggs but tends to stay with her brood a bit longer than most other breeds. My roo even warms the chicks. Momma will have half under her and then he's all fluffed up with half under him!!

I have noticed they they are a bit tricky to hatch in an incubator. They need super high humidity to hatch.. like 70% or more. But my broodies have no problems hatching them out.

My line is special to me as I can trace them back to the same birds my late grandfather showed back in the 50's -80's. They were his favorite among all the bantams and I think it's because he was a Marine and saw these little birds as having dignity with their proud stance, sharp features and mighty comb

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

Having raised showed and known rosecomb breeders
I am curious to know who your grandfather was

any way rosecombs are clanish birds and stay as a family unit in the chicken yard
we raised ours in a building and pen by them selves

they are fine till you take them apart and then no more can they be grouped to gether

so we always took the cockerels out at 4-6 months and penned them single

in pens that did not have wire for them to ruin their feathers

also they are early to bed as a unit and very early say day break to rise and eat and drink

they are bred so that the tails of the males do not get too far back on the eurogopeum

meaning that short backed females are used to breed to good tailed males

if using long backed females the tails get farther down on the back and drag the ground
a no no.

any questions email me

 

[PeepsInc]

Msbear, He is a beauty!.....I'm hoping my friend will part with a few eggs from his flock....

 

[gamebirdsonly]

I have some, Actually there my boy's I am not big fan off them but my boy loves them so I have to keep them.

 

[aveca]

I have silver sebright bantams , will be posting pics soon. Just havnt had a chance to take them. They have a show in august so I will post some pics of thier adventures,

what I like about them.

Cute birds and very attractive grazing around the yard .
They get lots of attention from visitors and comments on what a cute little bird. so great conversation chickens.
Colorful is an understement.
For whatevfer reason they co-habitate with australorps perfectly.
when they start to get scrappy with each other , the object of the fight will run and hide behind an australorps which dwarfs them in size . the australorps provides a baffle against fights.
Have been known to fly way up into trees to protect themselves from cats, fox and other ambushers.
Big eyed gypsy faced bird the females melt your heart.
They are funny when they all try to climb under a australorps rooster like a mother hen and funnier yet he is OK with them under his feet all of the time. , lorps roo breaks up fights between them. deliberatly gets in between the fight.then they forgot what they were doing and go on thier way.


things not so great about them

They are not cuddley like the australorps, very independant.
Lorps come in everynight dependable , but always a sebright straggler I have to round up.
They hurt your eyes trying to choose who gets shown like a bad pattern on a shirt.
It is legal to remove the small off color feathers , illegal to remove any primarys, again it hurts your eyes just trying to find a smudged micro feather on a high patterned bird..
They are cute birds and everyone wants to touch one but they are not crazy about being touched only tolerate it...not abundant eggs and productivity.
scrappy andvery vocal but for whatever reason lorps calm them.
People who are passionate about these bantams understand them and thier ways and accept it.
We have one female that is the runt, she is extreamly tiny and hangs out with the egg layers but not with the show birds, she seems to be everybodys favorite with her big eyed gypsy face but she doesnt like the attention.

I personally accept them for how they are , They liven up my life with color and cute faces .

I think just understanding rooster behaviour helps with any chicken. they are protective of females so in breeding pens we have access to food, and water dishes and egg boxes from the outside , if roos think you are threatening thier females they can get preyy riled. You wind up like a battle weary gladiator with a garbage can lid to defend yourself. Its just easier to collect everything from the outside , especcialy if you have limited space. roosters who can move away from you wont bother you much like on a large farm.

Out of breeding season they all calm down and run together cause the roosters were raised together. A new rooster always creates comotion thou, thats another story

 

[Msbear]

Quote:
Thanks!!

You will love them.

 

[Black Feather]

I very much enjoy my flock of rosecombs.

I like that they are an active bird that can take care of themselves for the most part. You don't have to keep them in particularly special pens in order to get them in show shape as long as you give them enough room so they don't ruin their tail feathers. You don't have to worry about foot feathering, or roost height as they can pretty much fly where ever they want to get to. In fact, the more space I can give mine the better. I hate keeping them in small pens as it deteriorates their muscle development. I hate picking up someone elses rosecombs and discovering the poor bird has no muscle development because they are kept in too small cages. Keeping them active keeps them showy too.

I don't handle my birds a whole lot so they are a bit flighty, but not wild. They come running when they see me with the 'treat bag', they just don't like being picked up a whole lot. I know when they are handled regularly though that they settle down nicely. Roosters tend to be nice birds, but can get aggressive if you allow them but nowhere near as bad as some of the OEGs I've had in the past.

I think when people say they are hard to raise they may be referring to top show quality birds. To breed a good show bird is a tricky thing....just keeping them around the barnyard is a piece of cake. Mine brood very well and the ones that are good moms are fantastic.

Urban Coyote

 

[playswithfowl]

I really like my Black Rosecomb hen I have. She is really really friendly, and comes running at the very site of me. Not to bad of a layer, she is 3.5 years old btw.