ALL about BANTAMS

please feel free to tell me all about your experiences raising BANTAMS. anything at all!!

I'm extremely happy with my Cochin Bantams which I purchased as chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery a couple years ago. This past year they hatched out many chicks, some bantams and some from my larger hens, with great success raising the babies. The only problem with these birds is they are really tiny, they may be among the smallest if not the smallest breed of chicken, so they don't make much of a meal if you want to eat them. "Take two, they're small."

Tyler Ludens wrote:I'm extremely happy with my Cochin Bantams which I purchased as chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery a couple years ago. This past year they hatched out many chicks, some bantams and some from my larger hens, with great success raising the babies. The only problem with these birds is they are really tiny, they may be among the smallest if not the smallest breed of chicken, so they don't make much of a meal if you want to eat them. "Take two, they're small."

Do you think they would brood my quail eggs? I know raising chickens with quail is not smart but I was thinking of putting 1 Bantam in my quail pen to avoid using an incubator when raising my meat chicks...

Tyler Ludens wrote:I'm extremely happy with my Cochin Bantams which I purchased as chicks from Murray McMurray Hatchery a couple years ago. This past year they hatched out many chicks, some bantams and some from my larger hens, with great success raising the babies. The only problem with these birds is they are really tiny, they may be among the smallest if not the smallest breed of chicken, so they don't make much of a meal if you want to eat them. "Take two, they're small."

Have you had any predator problems? Or cats?

Do you think they would brood my quail eggs? I know raising chickens with quail is not smart but I was thinking of putting 1 Bantam in my quail pen to avoid using an incubator when raising my meat chicks...

I have heard one story about them hatching geese.. I would love to know more about that! But I would also like to know how well they do with quail eggs.

About hatching quail with bantam hens:



this lady in France is doing it!

We have both bantams and standard hens. The bantams are, in my opinion, more fun to watch and more survival fit.

They are fast as all get out, almost impossible to catch. They can go anywhere; through small gaps, under the coop to lay hidden eggs. They are excellent foragers, way better than the standards. And they often go broody and successfully hatch and raise chicks.

I think they are awesome, and a great bird if you were going to free range your birds. Also, we are able to keep two roosters, 1 Banty and 1 barred rock. For some reason they are fine with each other, and they each stick to their own group of girls during the day, and roost in the same coop at night.

My full size girls will lay eggs their first winter w/o a light but my bantums would not. I like the bantams better, less destructive and really fun to watch and my cochin rooster was very friendly and didn't care if ya picked him up. He was good a keeping an eye out for predators too. If you have concerns about them get both, not too big of a deal and decide which you like. I don't keep bantams at present, three full size layers keep with plenty of eggs. Good luck, jeff

So I'm going to be moving to a place with (kind of) a lot of space so.... I was thinking I'd maybe like to have chickens again, except tiny chickens instead of big chickens. I have some questions that people with experience with bantams would probably have answers to. My questions are....
If I have bantams, will they fly over the fence and unleash a wave of vegetable garden destruction and poop across the land? Will they escape under any unguarded gap in a fence?
Are bantams as loud as big chickens?
Do they have any special bantam needs?
Thanks... anyone who can teach me the bantam ways

I am amused by my bantams, they are a bit different than my standard hens but they all get along together in one flock.

My bantams are a bit more chatty and a bit more flighty than my standard hens. While the standard hens will run and flap their wings to 'gain speed', the bantams will take off and fly around when spooked! This was amusing when they realized they can perch above my head on top of their enclosed run. They eventually get down, but they needed to see the rest of the flock to do so.

If you fence off your garden like I do to prevent chickens from getting in, make sure there isn't large gaps underneath your gates. My standard hens are kept out but those little buggers will sneak into my asparagus patch and scratch around. They honestly are fun!

<If I have bantams, will they fly over the fence and unleash a wave of vegetable garden destruction and poop across the land? Will they escape under any unguarded gap in a fence?
Are bantams as loud as big chickens?
Do they have any special bantam needs?>

They're very flighty.  Yes, they are as loud.  As far as difference goes, they tend to be more on the wild side than bigger chickens.  They prefer to sleep up in trees.  They will forage the neighbors' yards, too.  Mine will run across the street yet come back, squawking, if I scold them and tell them to go home.

One definite trait is they are faster, flightier, and go broody more easily.  They are very defensive of their eggs when they're broody.  Fiesty little wild things!

They are the original jungle fowl of Malaysia and that area, living in the underbrush of the jungles.  Their flightiness means they can quickly escape from predators, and they can resort to  their wild ways very easily.  They seem to me harder to tame, too.

I find them easier to raise because they are quite independent and more like street-smart kids:  scrappier, more self-sufficient, that sort of thing.  They eat less, being smaller, but then again, their eggs are smaller and they don't lay quite as often...but pretty close.