Do Bantams mature slowly? I thought it was the other way around...

[yearofthedog]

I've had my four little banties for one month and they still seem to be sooo tiny!!! I remember when my standard girls were chicks and they grew so fast, but not my banties...I always thought the bantams mature faster, you know, like dogs.

Can anyone enlighten me about bantam growth rate/maturity? I'm not so worried about eggs or anything, but it'd be my luck to get ALL the
runts!

Not that it would be a bad thing either, just wondering...

Thanks!

 

[seedcorn]

What breed are they? Some will never be very large and NONE will be large. Should feather fairly fast tho. If the are OEG or Dutch, they will be small. Probably won't lay till next spring.

 

[silkiechicken]

Alot of bantams mature slowly because I don't think they were ever really selected for production, so taking the early layers and using their eggs to hatch from wasn't really a pressure on their development. This is just a guess though.