Bantams good for newbies ?

[newbieveggie]

Hello all.

Ive just been offered some bantam chooks. I'm a complete novice and I wondered if bantams are good for first timers ? I have been put off in the past what with talk of mites and odd shaped rubber like objects being passed but I have wanted to keep chickens for such a long time.
Are they known to be good layers ? Are they higher maintenance than other varieties ? Would you recommend them for first timers ? they are currently completely free range and roost in the trees.

Ta muchly

[RichmondHens]

Bantams are great and I would not ever be without a few. However, they can be flighty, depending on the breed, and require more space than a heavier bigger full size bird. If you are to keep them free range though, they will be happy as larry. Bantams generally are not so "overbred" as large fowl, and as a rule are quite vigorous and live long lives. The downside is the size of eggs, about half the size of a hen's egg, but if space is not an issue, then that's a good excuse to have a few more of them!

All birds will get mites, lice etc from time to time, you just have to be vigilant, check them regularly and treat as necessary. Are these bantams you are getting going to continue to roost in trees, or are you planning on putting them in a henhouse? If they are used to roosting outside and will continue to do so with you, then you won't get the issue with red mite which hens in houses do. But it also means you won't have easy access to them when you want to check them over for other things. Lots to think about, but I love bantams and will recommend them to anyone. My bantams have kept me in eggs all winter when my big birds stopped laying. My oldest one is 7 and still laying regularly.

[Hilary B]

Bantams are moderate egg layers that go on for EVER (well it can seem like it) and tend to be reliable as broodies. You would probably have to keep them in for a few weeks until they learn who feeds them and where, but after that if you CAN give them access to truly free range, they are pretty minimum maintenance.
If free they WILL go visiting, and while their depradations on the veg patch (yours and your neighbours) are likely to be smaller than from larger birds, they WILL help themselves to anything tasty they spot.
2 of my best laying hens were hatched by a visiting broody bantam (she apparently took a fancy to our Cochin cockerel, Cuddles, going by the appearance of her babies).
Bantam COCKERELS are sometimes a lot more aggressive than the big boys (Napoleon complex?) and so agile that they can be hard to cope with.

[Bramble-Poultry]

as most of the grapes here know, we have in excess of 100 birds here most days. And a good proportion of them are bantams. The only large fowl we really stick to are the sussex, OEG, Dorking, and Marsh daisy. These are the ones destined for egg / meat production as it were.

As for the bantams, we have loads of pekins, barbu d'uccle, sablepoots etc. We find that they are little chaps, full of character. in the summer when the pekins are in full lay, you cant eat enough of their eggs! they lay literally hundreds!

A word about the bantams though, is that we find (especially with the barbu and sablepoot) that they are just a capable of flying as any other bird. a 6' fence is not a challenge to them! we keep those in a covered run. However, a well fed (hence decently muscled) Pekin will find hasle getting over a 4' fence unless it has toe holds so it can flap and walk at the same time to get over it.

Pekins are better than some bantams on grass as they have feathered feet and so are slightly less damaging to the ground, however in this weather they cant cope with the mud and rain and the feathery feet can get bound up with balls of mud making it had for them to walk.

do you happen to know what bantams you are being offered? it would help some of us to give advice if we have had or have those type of bantams. we could give you an insight into their character.

As hilary says, sometimes the cockerels develop a napoleon complex, but we find that with the pekins (and especially the barbu) its all mouth and no trousers. we have kept three unrelated cockerels in together and they display and square off, but never actually get as far as fighting. Perhaps they are too vain to damage their feathers or perhaps we just had three laid back boys?

Anyways, have fun and keep us posted

[Eco-Chic]

My 3 are Orpington bantams. Lovely, friendly calm ladies. Nice size to cope with until you are confident and want, perhaps to get full size hens too.

[Nicos]

I've got 9.
Yes the eggs are smaller- but they always raise a smile when given away.
Also I think there looks to be a higher percentage of yolk in the shell compared to white ( has anyone else noticed that???)
I just weigh the eggs for recipes- an average egg is 60g where as mine are about 40-45g

Mine free range- and yes they do fly about a bit- but they're not clipped.
They are really friendly too and I suppose you can get more chooks per coop- so they're even more interesting.