Chickens
& Eggs Egg Laying Chicken Breeds Wondering what are the best hens to buy
for maximum egg production? And which hens will sit on a nest and care
for baby chicks? Buy Baby Chickens All egg laying chickens start as peeps,
and raising your own hens from the time they are baby chickens is a
great way to ensure they are gentle and familiar with you.
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Small
Chicken Breeds: Bantam Hens Small chicken breeds are
known as
Bantams, and are enjoyed both as pets and novelty birds as well as
smaller-scale producers of eggs and meat. Bantam hens are about
one-fourth the size of regular chickens, and their eggs are smaller by
about half.
These tiny chickens require less food and can thrive in smaller spaces
than typical breeds, making them less costly to raise. They make
excellent 4-H projects and show chickens as well. Many find that these
small
chicken breeds are often more docile and make great pets, in addition
to producing eggs.
Some Bantams are true small chicken breeds and have no regular-size
counterparts. These are all of non-American origin and include:
Serama (tiniest chicken breed)
Japanese
Belgian
Old English Game Bantams
Pekins (also called Cochins by many)
There are many varieties of the Japanese small chicken breeds,
including ray, buff black-tailed, black, mottled, gray, buff
black-tailed, white black tailed and white. All of these are prized for
their tender meat as well as eggs.
Other Bantam chickens are actually the small version of regular-size
breeds, but have been bred as a sort of “low-line” version, such as:
 Welsummer
Araucana
Barnevelder
Barred Rock
Wyandotte
Leghorn
Sussex
Rhose Island Red
<--- Silkie (largest of the small chicken breeds)
Small chicken breeds, including a few Bantam silkies with feathered
feet,
have been my favorite to raise. The silkies were very gentle and let
the children pick them up and pet them all the time. They went broody
easily, so could be good setting hens as well. To prevent broodiness,
collect eggs twice a day.
Because of cross breeding and mixed breeds, Bantams and silkies
purchased from growers with mixed flocks living in the same space may
not be pure breeds. However, the diversity brings out some lovely
colors and characteristics in the birds and they still make great pets
and egg layers for your backyard flock.
Caring for small chicken breeds is virtually the same as tending to
standard size hens and roosters. They need less food than their larger
cousins, but also enjoy foraging and free ranging on grass. Protection
from predators is essential, of course, and a secure chicken coop goes
a long way to providing them the necessary protection.
Ready to get started on your backyard chicken flock with small breed
chickens? Learn How
to Build a Chicken Coop before you order your birds!
Because of their small size, bantam chickens make an excellent
choice for urban chicken growers and those keeping chickens in small
spaes. The small chicken breeds seem to be better about finding bugs
and supplementing their feed with foraging; they also have more
personality and are more enjoyable to raise, according to many backyard
chicken growers.
Raising laying hens is a fun adventure, and it can be quite satisfying
and
profitable too. Read more in Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens.
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens
 Chickens The Chicken Health Handbook Keep Chickens: Tending Small Flocks
Chicken Coop Living Choosing and Keeping Chickens 
Egg Laying
Chickens Book Store
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