Pets and showing... is there another purpose for bantams?

[SunnyAlberta]

I'm new to chickens and have three standard pullets. I enjoy looking at other people's bantams, but for those of us who want to eat eggs there isn't a point to owning small birds, is there? Fill me in!

 

[WallTenters]

Right now the only laying age birds I have at my property (adult Dominiques are at my business partner's house) are all bantams - getting more eggs than Keith and I can eat each day. They do all the things standard chickens do - just in smaller portions

 

[Oregon Blues]

I don't have bantams because the bigger the bird, the fewer the predators that are a danger.

However, I know a lot of people who have bantams. They are beautiful to look at. They eat much less feed and take up less space. The roosters are not quite as loud (but they sure aren't quiet).

They are popular for showing for all the reasons above. I show geese and i must go to the shows in a cargo van. But you could fit half a dozen bantams into one of those battery powered hamster cars.

Also (ahem) I eat my culls and i don't want to do the work of butchering to get a 1/2 pound dressed bird. But if what you want is eggs, the bantams certainly lay eggs.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Which bantam breeds are the best egg layers?

 

[LeJeune1]

We have 4Ameraucana Bantams & 4Dutch Bantams. The Dutch girls lay much more than the others and their eggs are bigger than what you'd expect they could put out. In my experience, each Dutch girl lays 3-4 per week. My Ameraucanas give 0-1 per week.

Scott LeJeune