One excellent reason is their tendency to go broody. A banty hen can hatch the eggs of a full-sized hen and take excellent care of the peeps. Easy way to enlarge/replace your flock and have a few extras to eat or sell. If I had the room, I would have a regular laying flock and maybe 3 or 4 bantams to do the hatching.
The morning breeze has secrets to tell you. Do not go back to sleep. Rumi
I would definitely agree with their broodiness. We actually tease our chickens about the insane mothering desires they have. Ours even raised some pheasants for us that a farmer found after he had destroyed the nest. He called knowing we had bantams since none of his. Chickens were brooding. The chosen mother didnt care even when her babies were much bigger than her. We got them for how nice they are. We have two little girls and we didn't want them to be afraid of or not able to help with our chickens. There is an occasional gal that isnt too friendly about you taking her eggs but their pecks still seem to scare more than hurt. Even to roosters are ok to us. Maybe hard on the hens but pretty nice to people.
For someone who wants chickens but really has little space to have them is when these cute ones are great..yes the eggs are small but they are eggs.....They make less poo messes since they have smaller poo....need about 1/4 the room of a large chicken...go thur feed a lot slower so cost less in the long run.....if hand raised or around people are quite friendly & funny...definitely a child friendly animal....I have a few that were giving to me that are in with the regular sized & the bigger hens will protect them from the big roo when he gets all romantic on them :)....I like them cause even with feathers they always look like babies to me.....Michele'
Yes, Banty girls have excellent mothering skills, if they can turn the egg in the nest, they will hatch it, then raise it, it is quite a sight to see a banty hen on the roost with her wings spread over the chicks that are now bigger than she is.
When you free your mind your heart can fly. Farmgirl # 714,
Mothering skill for sure..and they eat alot less as well. I had it figured out at one time that it costs less to produce the same amount of eggs as with big hens...allowing of course for the size....I love my banties..always had big hens until 9 and 1/2 years ago when we moved here...started with banties then and love love love them. They live a longer time than my others ever did too. I have at least 6 hens that are 9 years old. Not all good layers anymore..but they are cute little pets and cheap to feed.
What are the benefits of bantams besides cuteness
Posted - Nov 26 2011 : 5:18:14 PM
