Possibly breed of chicken? Sorry no pics

[sawilliams]

We went to a corn maze/pumpkin patch fun ranch in our area today and they had some of those tiny chickens (bantums?) Sorry i didn't think you get any pictures. I'm not usually a fan of the small chickens becuase the small eggs weird me out for some reason. Anyways they had some that looked like maybe polish or polish cross? There was a really cute rooster with just the head fluff. But some of the hens had the head fluff and feathered feet. I wasn't sure what breed those might be? Or if they are just mixed? I did try to look up pictures. I didn't see any that where just the feathered feet but there where silky chickens (the fluff ball type) and also some standard looking, not head fluff or feathered feet.

Anyways I was thinking i could maybe use one of the small prefab coops we bought and do some tiny chickens for the kids for 4h. I think it would be fun for them as its our first year in 4h and they would be small enough for my youngest (age5) to handle comfortably on his own (he gets a little nervous with the bigger chickens). My husband seemed to really like the look of the rooster too, the one I think was a polish.

So my question the ones with polish tops but feathered feet where they most likely polish silky cross or something else? I'm really not sure.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Other bantam breeds with feathered legs are d'uccle and cochins. As far as crested there's silkie and polish. Sounds like the were mixes. Silkie crosses tend to have smaller crests than polish mix, but you never know.

 

[sawilliams]

Ok thanks for the info. I think by look a few polish bantams might be really fun for a 4h project

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Polish can be goofy little birds, but they are interesting too. I recommend handling them well as chicks and housing them separately from other breeds. I look forward to hearing what you go with, they should be fun.

 

[sawilliams]

Yes I was thinking either one silkie or polish would not fit well with my egg flock being a backyard mix so to speak. I think 3-4 would do ok in the small prefab coop but i would need my husband to extend the run area. My oldest son seems to be leaning more towards a standard type bantam breed, he is just sort of excited about the idea of little chickens

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I personally enjoy the bantam cochins. They are friendly and comical. I keep a separate bantam flock the ranges in the same are as the standards. They can fall back to their run whenever things get too rough for them.

Bantams seem to do better with less room than bigger breeds need. You can mix different bantam breeds. I recommend choosing either the more gentle ones like silkies, cochins and d'uccle, or the more vigorous ones, like seabrights, games, and other clean legged varieties but not both kinds together for a more harmonious coop. Polish are the only more vigorous breed that I would keep only with more gentle breeds to minimize the risk of crest pecking.

 

[sawilliams]

The prefab pen is about a 2x2 coop with 2 1x1 nesting boxes on the back and the run portion is about 2x6. If i expanding the run do you think 3-4 bantams would be ok with this size coop?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You would probably be okay if you pick the smaller breeds, cochins would be too tight, but others would be okay, especially in your climate.

 

[MagpieDucks]

d'Uccle's are another great breed. Just ask @mymilliefleur