Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[gjensen]

Black Penedesenca.
Solid black.

I like these.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Haha!

I often wonder why "toy" or ornamental chickens exist. This includes all bantams ... especially now that I've been to a show and seen how TINY those are. What's the point?

I can look at big feathery chickens all day long ... but I worry about what might be going on under all those feathers ... keeping them healthy, no bugs ... how hot they get in the summer ... I'd be a wreck if I kept them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Many old timers have embraced bantams because of the thriftiness and the economy of feed input for the egg output.

I'm not a big fan of small eggs so I only keep LF>

 

[miss heny]

I person love Bantams but let me explain here.

Our bantams are small but very meaty (Personally breeding a farm strain for this) that are also good layers. The perks if they become broody the next year and at 4cyears old are still laying. And for some were one lives small is better haha.

 

[hellbender]

Well, the point of my original post was that we found the Marans to have a nice boxy frame and to grow pretty quickly (compared to our Delawares, which are slow). We like those things about them.

Besides that, their lightly feathered feet seem to do pretty well here ... we have a mixture of forage area including grass and other stuff. They get around really well.

Most of our birds free-range from daylight (after goat milking) until they go to roost and there's just not enough mud to hinder a feather-footed bird around here, unless they get into the pigs or horse areas. Jeff, at Cackle tells me that about half of the chicks hatch with clean legs so it wouldn't be any big thing to eliminate the feathers all together, especially with what I intend to use to use them for.

 

[gjensen]

Bantams, generally, are ornamentals. However, we can enjoy all that we do in large fowl, in bantams. Many cannot keep, breed, and raise quantities in large fowl. Therefore, they enjoy the hobby in bantams. They also are more likely to be able to enjoy more than one breed.

I say this to say, that there is nothing wrong with bantams.

Concerning utility, some bantam strains have potential. Particularly along the lines of feed efficient layers. Bantams mature faster etc.A bantam x large fowl can produce 1/2 size birds that lay 3/4 the size of eggs. That is half the feed for 3/4 the egg. This is the concept behind some strains of commercial leghorns. These concepts have been realized for some time. There are down sides to, of course.

But, this is not keeping with the preservation ideals of this thread, which I agree that there is a need. I like the originals first, and my first love. I like to see all of our breeds well represented in the original large fowl.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

... That is half the feed for 3/4 the egg. ...

But, this is not keeping with the preservation ideals of this thread, which I agree that there is a need. I like the originals first, and my first love. I like to see all of our breeds well represented in the original large fowl.

I think that is the main draw of most poultrymen to bantams.

A big need for keeping these old breeds pure.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Have I asked here if anyone has experience with wing bands. I think they would be my best chance at keeping track of hatch dates and matings next season. I'd like to be able to band right after hatch ... I've seen bands for "day old chicks" and wonder if anyone here bands that early.

In the meantime, I was a shopping for colored zip ties at Amazon.com, and kept reading reviews from people who use them to keep chickens sorted.

 

[miss heny]

Yeup, those things are awesome other then the feathers will cover it as they get older. For us we plan on using both wing bands and legs bands

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Have I asked here if anyone has experience with wing bands. I think they would be my best chance at keeping track of hatch dates and matings next season. I'd like to be able to band right after hatch ... I've seen bands for "day old chicks" and wonder if anyone here bands that early.

In the meantime, I was a shopping for colored zip ties at Amazon.com, and kept reading reviews from people who use them to keep chickens sorted.

I looked into wing bands, but ended up going with numbered colored zip ties when I had 25 chicks to keep close track of (so I can't advise you on wing bands, though they do look promising). Depending on how many birds you need to keep track of, Stromberg's sells colored zip ties that are numbered - I've used these on legs, very easy, and I like that I can size it just right for each bird and swap them out as they grow. (I couldn't find anyone else besides them that sold the numbered ones.)

- Ant Farm