Why Bantams? I don't get it....

[wbruder17]

First, I wanted banties because I like lots of diversity and my birds are mostly pets with a perk of eggs. Then, they were soooo friiendly and sweet. Now, they are broody machines and great mamas, so they do all my hatching for me, therefore making the most money out of all my hens, since I sell the babies. The small eggs are also cute to stick in a dozen eggs as a little novelty suprise. The eggs are also pperfectly child sized, and great to hardboill for my 3 year old neice. I tell her the hens lay those little Ella sized eggs just for her and she gets a kick out of it!

Its also hysterical tto see my little Dutch bantam (1 pound, maybe) chasing around my 10 pound brahma, who is lower on the pecking order!

 

[hennyannie]

My motto is if ya don't lay eggs I ain't feeding you, and my little banty hens lay eggs.They are currently out laying their LF neighbors.The eggs are the same, you just have to add some extras, and they do eat alot less than the big girls.I got them just for fun for my daughters, but they have impressed me.

 

[stephanie1992]

CUZ THERE ADORABLE AND U CAN HOLD THEM AND THEY CAN BE SOOO TAME!!!

 

[kbreak]

I have 2 bantams. A rooster and hen. They free range. They won't get very close to people. You walk to where they are and they go in the woods. They are better since we got other chickens. Our hopes are wfter we start free ranging or chickens they will go in and roost with the rest of them. Our bantam are more for looks. He has made a pretty little rooster.

He is a beautifully colored little rooster ![

 

[cottagechick]

There are only three of us. We don't want to sell eggs to the world, just ourselves. I figure that the monster eggs we have in the grocery store are probably not necessary and not what our ancestors had anyway. I had eaten bantam eggs and decided that they are sufficient. Depending on the breed I believe that most bantam eggs are 1.25-1.5 ounces versus 2 ounces for a "normal" store bought egg. From what I understand most of the weight is in whites and not yolk and some people prefer that. My chickens weigh about 1.5- 2 lbs and are VERY good foragers. I haven't had full sized chickens since I was a kid...but you cannot convince me that a 2 pound chicken eats the same amount as a 6 pound chicken. If they eat less than the poop less. Even though they are a third to a quarter of the size of a lf their eggs are about 3/4 the size of a regular egg. I can have more chickens so if some go broody than I have others who will hopefully go broody at different times. They are small and wily and can fly and hid in small spots if they need to get away from danger. They don't decimate my garden. If I were so inclined I COULD eat them. Silkie meat is a very popular food in China. Their bones are supposed to have some medicinal properties in Chinese medicine. They are cute and amusing and easier to handle. They are easier to sell because they aren't as common as most lf.

Thought. If I am going to have chickens for eggs...why shouldn't they be fun and cute and amuse me?

I don't really know why I would want mutant giant chickens who eat and poop 3x as much and only give eggs that are .25% a bigger

...makes no sense to me.

 

[Bantam Username]

Quote:
Yea pretty much.............................. For some folks banty's fit for them for a few reasons, the house chicken people like their size, some people use the less feed excuse, less space to raise more, the ladies like them cause their cute and small makes them easy to handle. Some breeds in the Bantam size have a totally different look and some folks like that. there could be many other reasons. I have never seen the attraction myself I raise LF, but the banty's are very popular.

No. Bantams will lay an egg every two to three days. Many devoted fanciers raise them, and people who love chickens but don't have much space.

Again it depends on the bird and the breed. My last pair of Bantams laid an egg a day, I actually had more eggs from the pair of them than I could eat. They are very definate pets with me, I don't think I could eat one of my birds for any reason, if they stopped laying, get some more that are younger and let the old girls remain as pets. After all, they don't cost much in feed and after laying my meals for so long, don't they deserve a rest? I don't keep livestock, I have pets with benefits.

 

[BWchicken]

Quote:
No. Bantams will lay an egg every two to three days. Many devoted fanciers raise them, and people who love chickens but don't have much space.

I disagree, bantams produce eggs exactly like LF, and it can vary with breed just like LF.
Most of mine lay an egg a day, even my Sebrights.

 

[Ole rooster]

I asked the wife this morning on her way out to school if the teachers at school would want these smaller eggs. She said no because of recipes calling for eggs that are not considered "bantam" eggs. She said these called for "full size eggs". So that all I know there. My BO's are laying eggs that can't be any larger than the bantams, so those stay home. I sell the rest because we, the two of us, just can't eat the amount of eggs we get.

So you see, I get bantam eggs without bantam hens.

 

[GardenState38]

Quote:
The only types of recipes where bantam eggs might not provide similar results as large eggs, are baking recipes. In baking, ingredient ratios need to be pretty exact. Most cake recipes call for "large eggs", which are pretty standardized at 2 oz. But you could always try using 2 bantam eggs per "large" egg called for, or slightly scramble 2 and weigh out 2 oz. (the ratio of white to yolk may be different, though)

But there are tons of uses for eggs in other recipes besides baked goods where amounts don't need to be so exact--there's always a use for a good, fresh egg, no matter what the size!

Ungraded and even small eggs fly off the shelves at our CSA--people just want fresh eggs that don't come from a supermarket.
It's all about how you market them

 

[Stephanie739]

Quote:
I wasn't planning on having any bantams. I got chickens for the eggs, and was under the impression the bantams were more "pet" than anything else.

I do have 3 bantam cochins now. Although I had planned on LF, I got these and have a new appreciation for the little birds. My cochin pullet, Buttons, is hopefully going to work as my incubator and mommy. Their small size is convenient - this is I like very much. Upon learning that bantams produce eggs at the same rate as the LF, I just might end up with more bantams. I am going to breed bantam cochins, and was even looking into bantam leghorns yesterday (my LF egg laying machines

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