Japanese bantam older chicks- IA

[Akane]

6 weeks old. Mostly black tailed white with a couple black tailed buff and 1 solid white roo. Pretty sure it's 6 pullets and 10 roos. $5 for pullets, roos are free. Located near highway 6 in eastern Iowa.

 

[skyedobb]

New to chickens, especially new to Jap Bantams - how good of a layer are they (obviously, eggs would be small)? Where are you in IA/Hwy 6?

Thanks!

 

[mrslein]

I would like to get about 4 hens. I have one lonely rooster. Do you ship? Very interested in older hens.

 

[Akane]

I was surprised at how well they lay. They all started in the middle of winter and have kept it up since. I get probably 5 eggs a week from each hen in the coop and at least 2 eggs a day from the 3 hens I have under lights. Quite frequently I get an egg from every jap hen in a 24hr period. I'm surprised on days I don't get an egg from Kimi who is my btb hen out in the coop and not under lights. The average I've seen listed for the breed though is 100-120 eggs per year from a hen so I don't know if mine are just above average or if they are going to drop off later in the year.

They are very easy tame, easy to handle chickens and the roos are not agressive. Which is why I chose them as my first chicken breed when I started getting chickens last spring. The only thing about keeping them in northern states is that they aren't great with really cold weather. In a solid sided shelter they are fine down to about 0 to 10F and then they definitely need some form of heat. Either a heat lamp or a space heater. If you have a good solid coop without major drafts and are willing to put up a heat lamp or move them if we hit negatives in Jan-Feb then they get along fine.

I'm between Iowa City and Muscatine.

Shipping new born chicks is complicated enough so I'm not willing to ship older chicks and adults.

 

[skyedobb]

I think I'll decline...my coop isn't draft-proof. Something I hope to fix in time for winter! I just started with chickens a few weeks ago. My flock is doing fine this spring since it hasn't been bitterly cold like it was this winter, but I know I need to seal up drafts for winter.

Thanks for the response!
Skyee

 

[Mrs.Puff]

I can back up Akane on the laying rate of these Japanese Bantams. I have an adult pair from her, and the hen lays beautifully, at least 5 eggs a week, which is a lot for this breed.

 

[badnfluinz]

I live just outside muscatine in Illinois. About how far would yoube? I would love to take all your pullets and a few roos. I would have to wait untilnext paycheck on the 18th. Do you have any older hens available?

 

[Akane]

Probably about 45mins to here depending how far over the river you are or if you have to go through town. I only kept 2 btw hens (1 for backup) and a white hen with my btw roo then a pair of btb so I don't have extra adults. For my first test hatch from them though they had an awesome hatch rate of 24 out of 25 eggs. Now I have far more little ones running around the bottom of my coop than I need.