What are bantys good for?

[klf73]

Ok, before I get flamed here, hear me out. My dh is great with my hatching addiction. He is neither fond of chicken meat or eggs, so this is all for me and the kids. I HAD to have silkies, I wanted some friendly, soft, adorable birds. The eggs will be small, very broody, so not many eggs I've read. What other reasons are there to have bantys? I have mutts and Ameraucana for laying and am getting some BC Marans hatching eggs in a couple of weeks. My dh wants to know what the "little chickens" are good for? Would like any opinions.....
Krista

 

[Wildsky]

They're cute - isn't that enough?

Kids love them, they can be kept in smaller coops, the tiny eggs are kinda cute.... other than that - well they're CUTE (did I say that already?)

 

[arlee453]

Isn't being cute, laying a few eggs and going broody now and again good enough?

 

[Wildsky]

Quote:

great minds think alike!

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I have three Silkies and one Cochin Banty that are all of laying age. For thest last 2 months, I have been averaging 3 or 4 eggs per day. Enought that our family pretty much each nothing but banty eggs. We have our standard girls which lay the big eggs, but we sell those for $2 / dozen which helps to offset the feed bill.

And of course, they are so cute!!!!!!!!

 

[The Chicken Lady]

They have entertainment value.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

They make great chicken nuggets or single serving meals.

Their eggs cook up just like regular chickens, the ratio is 1.5 bantam eggs to 1 standard egg (roughly). You can eat bantams, just not as much meat as standard chickens. They cost less for upkeep (consume less food & water than standards), and they're compact so you don't need as much room as you would with standard birds.

They also tend to be a lot more people friendly, probably because they're not so daunting as the larger birds so people are more apt to "play" with them.

 

[miss_jayne]

also, bantams are awesome foragers...they will seriously do some work in the yard if you put a tractor out!

 

[sara]

The roosters have adorable crows!

 

[EweSheep]

I agree with ChickenGurl

I've raised bantams and I think they are just as the same as the LF however the eggs are smaller but yolks make up majority of the space inside of egg and not much whites. Meat is also delicious and smaller than the LF. Great for soups....think of mini Cornish hens! Great for crock pot size!