The best garden bantams

[olympicchicks]

I'm getting my hens soon and I am getting bantams as I don't have the space for the larger birds and they are going to be living with two mini lops.what breeds are the friendliest,best egg layers,and anything else I'm stuck on breeds as there is the good and bad about different things. So please give me your favourites and why.

I'm thinking of the lemon millefluer booties and the Pekins but there are lots more I like.i would like to find a hen soon so I can get to know what they're average personality and flightiness is to get ready for having them

I preferably want one with feathered legs as they will be aloud to roam the garden somedays and I don't want them messing the garden up and they're cuter than the clean leggeds

 

[cafarmgirl]

I'm getting my hens soon and I am getting bantams as I don't have the space for the larger birds and they are going to be living with two mini lops.what breeds are the friendliest,best egg layers,and anything else I'm stuck on breeds as there is the good and bad about different things. So please give me your favourites and why.

I'm thinking of the lemon millefluer booties and the Pekins but there are lots more I like.i would like to find a hen soon so I can get to know what they're average personality and flightiness is to get ready for having them

I preferably want one with feathered legs as they will be aloud to roam the garden somedays and I don't want them messing the garden up and they're cuter than the clean leggeds

How much a chicken messes up your garden has nothing to do with whether it's a feather legged breed or not. They are going to scratch, dig holes and eat plants.

As far as breed, I don't really know what to suggest. I have Sebrights and bantam Welsummers and both are very nice birds. I don't know that they'd do well in a very small space with rabbits as co-inhabitants though! You will have to give that a try and see if you like it and if they all get along. I personally don't like having rabbits in with the chickens, they invariably seem to step in chicken poop or get pooped on from above. Occasionally there will be a chicken that dislikes the rabbits or other way around. I just prefer everybody in their own space. But there are people here who do it and it works for them so just have to give it a try. How much space you have and what your setup is like makes a lot of difference.

 

[Michael OShay]

The best laying bantams are White Leghorn bantams. However, like their standard sized counterpart, they are high strung and flighty. The friendliest bantams are Silkies and Pekin (Cochin) bantams. My children made lap pets of both these bantam breeds, but neither are very good layers (although they make excellent brooders and mothers). Black Silkies are my personal favorite bantams, but I also like Mille Fleur D'Uccles and Silver Sebright bantams very well. Whatever bantam breed you decide to get, good luck with your flock.

 

[olympicchicks]

They don't have to live with the rabbits it's just an idea as the rabbits do escape sometimes.they do have their own big pen, which can be taken apart, and I know of rabbits living fine with chickens for example my auntie has a few large egg layers and her continental giant lives fine with them as she has her iwn space which the chickens don't go into, which mine will have too.

They'll be living down the side of the house on concrete but they'll have an area with plants in that'll have mesh over it, so they don't destroy the plants, for them to forage in.theyll also have a dust bathing area under they coop.they'll have the original pen and coop that we built with them for clean outs and going on the grass in summer

The sebrights I have thought about but they're just too small.silkies are very broody though If I get a mix a silkie might be in their.do Pekins get broody often as I've read that they are and aren't and I've also read that they lay about 4 eggs a week but they are very small.with the feather legs apparently they don't tend to scratch as much

I want the breeds that have different looks and plumage colours

 

[Michael OShay]

The sebrights I have thought about but they're just too small.silkies are very broody though If I get a mix a silkie might be in their.do Pekins get broody often as I've read that they are and aren't and I've also read that they lay about 4 eggs a week but they are very small.with the feather legs apparently they don't tend to scratch as much

I don't know who read read that said Pekins lay about 4 eggs a week, but the ones I had only laid half of that (2 eggs) per week. They were almost as broody as our Silkies and no better at laying. Actually our Silkies often laid 3 eggs per week per hen. If you're looking for really different looks and plumage colors, you might consider Mille Fleur D'Uccles. They are extremely colorful and cheerful little chickens.

 

[olympicchicks]

I don't know who read read that said Pekins lay about 4 eggs a week, but the ones I had only laid half of that (2 eggs) per week. They were almost as broody as our Silkies and no better at laying. Actually our Silkies often laid 3 eggs per week per hen. If you're looking for really different looks and plumage colors, you might consider Mille Fleur D'Uccles. They are extremely colorful and cheerful little chickens.

The millefluer is a favourite that's why I thought of the lemon millefluer booties as I like the spots, do you know anything about these as they are a rare breed?Z?????

Some other breeds I've thought of are polish,appenzeller spitzhaubens,aracaunas and Belgian d'anvers. what do you think about these breeds.i know the appenzeller sand aracaunas aren't bantams but I like them crest on the appenzeller sand the aracaunas I have found near me are lavender and i like the blue eggs

 

[Michael OShay]

The millefluer is a favourite that's why I thought of the lemon millefluer booties as I like the spots, do you know anything about these as they are a rare breed?Z?????

Some other breeds I've thought of are polish,appenzeller spitzhaubens,aracaunas and Belgian d'anvers. what do you think about these breeds.i know the appenzeller sand aracaunas aren't bantams but I like them crest on the appenzeller sand the aracaunas I have found near me are lavender and i like the blue eggs

I've had Mille Fleur D'Uccles, but not the lemon Mille Fleurs. My D'Uccles were friendly, cheerful, feather-legged bantams. The hens laid about 3 (occasionally 4) small, creamy white egg per week. I've also had Polish and Araucanas (actually ours were Easter Eggers as pure Araucanas are relatively rare and expensive, and have tailless rumps). Both breeds are docile but don't particularly like being handled. Polish are real inconsistent in their lay rates. A few of them only gave me 1 (maybe 2) white eggs per week while others gave me four eggs per week. The Easter Eggers are good layers, producing 4 (on occasion 5) eggs a week in a variety of colors (blue, green, beige, and sometimes even pale pink or gold). I've never had Appenzellers, so I can't speak with any personal experience there.

 

[olympicchicks]

I think they are eater edgers as the do have a small tail.the d'uccles seem to be very similar to the booties

,here's a pic of them from google they do look similar and that's because of what I've found out, the d'uccles were bred from breeding the booted bantams with the belgian d'anver.

 

[Michael OShay]

,here's a pic of them from google they do look similar and that's because of what I've found out, the d'uccles were bred from breeding the booted bantams with the belgian d'anver.

They are certainly gorgeous birds that would brighten up any flock. )

 

[olympicchicks]

They're very different aswell