Do bantams grow more slowly than standards?

[MIChickandGuinea]

I have bantams for the first time this spring. They are 8 weeks old now, and some are still about the size of a sparrow. They're fully feathered, active, flying and perching like you'd expect any chicken to do. But even the largest of them (the silkies) are still SO incredibly small. I thought bantams would be like half-sized chickens at maturity, but these don't look like they could ever get that big. Either that, or they are just slower growers?

 

[Kessel23]

I am not very experiences with bantams but I do have some silkies, they definitely grow really slow, it took my silkie hen 11 months to mature fully and start to lay. It can take a rooster up to 6 months, and in some cases more, to even start crowing.

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

I should mention the breeds I have, in case some are known to grow faster or slower ...
Golden and silver sebright
Old English (not sure of the exact color varieties - silver duckwing maybe)
White silkie
Porcelain and mille fleur d'uccle (the porcelains are THE SMALLEST in the whole group)
Bantam cochin (one light brown and one black/white - no idea of the correct type names)

The silkies and cochins are a little bigger, maybe almost the size of a robin. The rest are so so tiny!!

 

[Harmony Fowl]

I think they just have less growing to do, so the increments are smaller and you notice them less. These two are ten weeks old and hatched together. The EE just grows and grows, but I can’t remember when I last noticed a growth spurt in the Cochin. I do remember with my last bantams a leap in growth at 4-5 months as they hit maturity.

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

I think they just have less growing to do, so the increments are smaller and you notice them less. These two are ten weeks old and hatched together. The EE just grows and grows, but I can’t remember when I last noticed a growth spurt in the Cochin. I do remember with my last bantams a leap in growth at 4-5 months as they hit maturity.
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OK - that 4-month growth spurt makes sense. I will be curious to see how these little cuties come along.

 

[Gray Farms]

Bantam are much faster to mature than large breeds. They are usually fully mature at around 5-6 months. Bantam are actually 1/3 to 1/4 the size of large breeds.

 

[Delaneygraces]

I know that Old English/Game Bantam breeds do mature decently quickly, and feather out, but they don’t seem to grow as fast as standards, since they are smaller, they don’t have as much to grow, and take their time!

 

[MIChickandGuinea]

Bantam are much faster to mature than large breeds. They are usually fully mature at around 5-6 months. Bantam are actually 1/3 to 1/4 the size of large breeds.

Huh. Interesting. So will the hens start laying earlier than standard ones? Would we need to be watching for broodiness/chicks this fall?

 

[Olivekat07]

I am not very experienced with bantams but when I first got chickens we had 2 standard chickens and 3 silkies and they were all the same age. And I would say that the silkies grew slower than the standards. It took my silkie hen 10 months to lay and the standards to lay 7-8 months.

 

[JedJackson]

In general bantams are faster, but it can vary with breed and individual. I do remember thinking silkies took a long time to mature when I had them years ago, so maybe they're slower than average.