Bantams - Recommendations please?

[Joanna1966]

We've got the coop, the food, the drinkers, feeders, bedding... everything but the bantams because we can't decide which ones to get!

I've read that the Light Sussex and Wyandottes are good layers for bantams, can anyone confirm this? How many eggs per week are these girls likely to produce?

Can anyone recommend any other breed that will give us a good "return on investment"? These ladies will mainly be pets but I am looking forward to a small morning egg and doing some baking at the weekend too

Thank you for your help,
Joanna

 

[Marigold]

Not exactly bantams, but small neat beautiful little girls - had you considered Cream Legbars? Then you would get a smallish (50-55gram) BLUE egg for breakfast. Mine is now in her second year and lays nearly every day, She is also tame, intelligent, and very pretty. Cream Legbars are autosexing, ie you can tell which are girls when they are hatched, so you could even do as I did and buy chicks or growers and have all the fun of watching them grow, without worrying that anyone would begin to crow!

 

[Sue]

It might be a good idea to put this on the 'general chickens forum'. You may get other suggestions as more people will see it.

Marigold, that's interesting what you say about the cream legbar! Mine is huge, in fact she's the biggest in height of the ones I've got, although a bit more streamlined! She also lays what I would call 'medium' size eggs (a bit bigger than the medium size you get in the supermarket).

 

[Marigold]

Good idea, Sue, I've moved it over, please look there for more posts and replies.

 

[chrismahon]

English Leghorn Bantams are a real winner for egg production. White are easier to get than Brown. Very flighty but lay 200 a year at 45 -50 grammes. Downside is they are susceptable to frostbite with their big combs and need warmth in Winter. Ours go in the greenhouse with heat as required on very cold days or they come inside on very cold nights. If you are in town and their coop is well sheltered you should have no problems, but in the Country it is several degrees cooler.

 

[Marigold]

Marigold, that's interesting what you say about the cream legbar! Mine is huge, in fact she's the biggest in height of the ones I've got, although a bit more streamlined! She also lays what I would call 'medium' size eggs (a bit bigger than the medium size you get in the supermarket).

I expect the size differs between different strains, certainly mine is considerably smaller and neater than my hybrids and much smaller than Marigold the Buff Sussex. Also of course some Cream Legbars lay green egs so if you want blue ones you need to enquire what the strain the parent birds come from.

 

[Chuck]

I'd agree with Chris as the Leghorn bantams are said to be good layers, both White and Black but you'd need to try to suss out from the seller/breeder, how good they are as some of them have been developed into show strains with huge combs. Whatever breed you go for you will have to try to do the same. You may find it difficult to locate them but I would be prepared to travel for the right birds rather than settle for what's on the doorstep. The only other advice I'd offer is do get them from the same place and from the same pen which will reduce the risk of cross infection and fighting.

 

[BabyBantam]

I'd suggest light sussex are good egg layers, but a friends Wyandottes are terrible layers. (Surprise surprise) I'd also say if you're going for pets, get a couple of pekins for laughs and silly antics in fluffy bloomers (not regular year round layers).

also remember that bantams lay smaller eggs, so 2 bantam eggs = 1 medium/large supermarket egg. This means you'll need more chooks, or have to wait longer for your baking spree!

 

[chrismahon]

We had two Bantam Wyandottes. Looked lovely and fluffy with beautiful feathering but lay- ha ha! If we got 50 a year I'd be amazed. Think one did 50 and the other about 20. Strange because our large fowl are excellent layers, even though they are fancy colours. And they were quite nasty. The Orpington Large fowl lived in fear of them and were horrified when one moved into their coop!

 

[Lordcluck]

I would agree with others in recommending Leghorn Bantams, particularly the whites. White Leghorn bantams are genetically very close to the smaller commercial White Leghorn large Fowl that are one of the chief components of Modern commercial Hybrid layers, and by far the best layers in all chickendom. Blacks and Brown Leghorns are also no slackers in the laying stakes, and the Browns in particular often have slightly less exaggerated comb and wattle development, so are often not as prone to Frostbite as the others.
The related Ancona bantam is also a great little layer, with one noted Utility flock producing pullets capable of producing 200 plus eggs in their first season. Minorcas are another great layer with birds giving high yields 180-200 eggs per bird per year. away from the Mediterranean breed theme Hamburghs are good layers of white eggs, and many of the miniature dual purpose breeds like New Hampshire Reds, Rhode Island Reds, Welsummers and Maranses bantams can all give a good account for themselves in laying sufficient eggs for Home consumption.
One bantam breed that is a surprisingly good layer inspite of it's strictly ornamental origins is the Poland! given the little extra care and attention this breed requires, the females can produce good numbers of white/ lightly tinted eggs of good size, and they rarely if ever go broody.

 

[Philcott]

We had two Bantam Wyandottes. Looked lovely and fluffy with beautiful feathering but lay- ha ha! If we got 50 a year I'd be amazed. Think one did 50 and the other about 20. Strange because our large fowl are excellent layers, even though they are fancy colours. And they were quite nasty. The Orpington Large fowl lived in fear of them and were horrified when one moved into their coop!

I keep the Wybars (derived in part from SL Wyandottes) and they are cracking little layers, laying 6 days out of 7 - seems such a shame that they have got such a bad name for laying. Even my blue laced wyandottes lay well - but we won't talk about the lemon barred wyandottes - they are hopeless! She lays perhaps one a week if I am lucky! 19

Again all of my birds are quite placid - I find it amazing that different strains of the same breed can be so different! Bit like humans I suppose! :lol: