My 7 year old DD is just getting into Showmanship and we'd like to buy her a few show quality bantams for her to work with (right now she's using a barnyard-quality silkie and has a little flock of hatchery bantams). The deal is, she is expected to pay for feed, medicine (within reason), and incidental expenses for her flock, and she covers this by selling their eggs. So far this arrangement is working well. Now she would would like a couple of nicer quality birds to handle, but she still needs to make sure the new additions can produce enough to help cover feed, etc. I know SQ birds don't generally lay like hatchery birds do, but are there some breeds or SQ lines that actually do produce well? She is thinking about bantam Ameraucanas, and I think the blue eggs would sell well in this town. She also likes the "miniature standard" breeds (bantam Brahmas, barred rocks, etc.) but they do tend to be a bit large for her to handle, even as bantams. The EEs we have seem to be pretty docile and about the right size. We also keep the birds in a tractor, so breeds that can't take confinement are out.
Any suggestions, SQ bantam experts? Thanks!
Any suggestions, SQ bantam experts? Thanks!
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