What are sure fire ways you know your chicken/hen is a bantam?

[Cavendish Chickens]

I know I've questioned the size of my hen before. I really think she is a bantam. She (Mable) is very small, and her eggs are tiny. If you found them in the store, the size would be marked "small". She is a light brown leghorn. No buggy eyes. She's just very small, and lays very small white eggs. Her "sister" Gloria (who turns out is actually a white rock) lays large sized brown eggs, and is noticeably bigger than her. Mable nestles up to Gloria, and sometimes even tries to nestle UNDER her. Like Gloria's her mom or something. It's really cute. They have such a great bond. They were raised together. So... are her size, and size of her eggs pointing out she is a bantam hen? Thanks

 

[LarryPQ]

Um...banties are bred to be small, but there are small chickens too. Throwbacks or runts, or chickens who didn't get enough food during the right growth spurt. Some individuals just lay little eggs.

She has that dainty look banties have. What does her voice sound like? My OEGBs sound like squeaky toys compared to the other chickens.

I suppose she could be a mix.

 

[Cavendish Chickens]

I'm not sure. She rarely makes noise. She's pretty quiet, but the noises I DO hear are usually higher pitched than her "sister".

The guy we got them from apparently doesn't know as much about chickens as he acts like. He told us our hatched roo was a girl, and told us the white rock was a white leghorn.... And we're not the only ones who got the opposite of what we were told. Another girl I met online got pretty much a whole flock that he said were all girls... nope. Mostly boys. So there's no telling unless smarter people can tell me. This is our first time having chickens. So I don't know much.

 

[LarryPQ]

Sounds like a banty. Do you have a pic of them together?

 

[Cavendish Chickens]

I have a few, but they're not very good ones... and they're old pics. I'll have to try and get a new picture. Here are some. I can private message you with the new pic(s) when I get it/them, if that's okay?

Egg sizes hers are the white ones

All 3... she's the one in the back

Again... in the back... under the chair

first night we had them... sitting on my leg

first day having them...

Here they both are... separate pics... but what they look like now...

 

[silkydragon]

looks like a standard to me

 

[LarryPQ]

Maybe this helps. You can see my flock is mixed. The second from the left is an OEGB... the size of a soda can. The black/white spotted ones are exchequer leghorns...smaller-bodied large fowl.

Chickens 1&3 are sizzles, banties, but larger in comparison to other banty breeds.

 

[Cavendish Chickens]

How do you weigh or measure the size of a chicken? She is really skittish and won't really let us touch her too much. I get lucky enough to pet her a tiny bit at night before she moves away from me. But maybe if I could get a height or weight, or both, on her that could help determine too?

 

[LarryPQ]

Quote:
Wait until she goes to sleep. Chickens are zombies at night. Pick her up and stand on a scale. Then weigh yourself.

But really, banty has more to do with what the chicken's breed is, not a size measurement.

 

[Cavendish Chickens]

With that picture, Mable looks like the size of yours (2nd to left), but she's not the size of a pop can..... ?