Dual-Purpose...Banties

[ChickyLaura]

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No, he's from a breeder. I don't think he was breeding him for meat though, LOL! I'm sure he was breeding for feather pattern. He is a pretty little boy, but his crowing keeps all the chickens in the coop for a lot longer each day than I'd like. I was going to try to re-home him, but that doesn't always work out the best for me... If he goes, then the girls can be out as much as they want. Heck, with just girls nobody even knows that I have chickens!

 

[ChickyLaura]

I just went out to the coop and felt my Wyandotte roo. He is TINY! His drumsticks, er, legs are not big either. I guess I could make him in to stock, but I'm wondering how to make him stretch to feed a family of 5... I never butchered before, and I'd really like to get a meal out of the little guy. Maybe chicken and dumplings would be a start.

I think you have a great idea to raise bantams for meat, since you only have two of you to feed. Makes me think for the future... Hmmm. Well, right now I have 3 teens, including a 16 year old son, so it would probably take several bantams for supper!

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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Hehe! With my small rabbits, I like to call them "Snack Size". Sounds like that's about what that little guy would be for ONE growing teenager!

 

[Ahab]

My grandmother always kept banties as broodies for her eating and laying chickens, but when she got really creaky she got rid of her large fowl and just kept banties. I don't remember much about it, being then at the age where significant things aren't as significant as they ought to be, but I seem to remember her saying she liked banties because, with just her and my grandfather to feed, they warn't no leftovers, and they took keer of themselves.

Now that my wife and I have arrived at that age, I'm beginning to think my grandmother was onto something. She usually was.

Do Cornish banties perk up the eyebrows of other elderly empty-nesters, I wonder?

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I'm being told that hatchery strain Cornish banties lay very well. This surprises me for some reason! I know the list posed earlier said that, but I tend to take lists of that nature with a grain of salt and look into individual lines and strains to see what they're like. I am pleasantly surprised to hear that at least as far as the Cornish banties go, it may be right on.

Still worried about them in AK, though, after my disastrous experience with standard Cornish and the first snow!

Also, possibly of note, my husband and I are in our mid-20's and early 30's. Kind of just getting started. Still, this prospect is appealing for coping with the space restrictions and I think will be perfectly reasonable for us.

 

[Ahab]

Why not look into Chantecler banties in AK? If they can survive Montreal, they can handle Alaska. In theory.

 

[95yj]

i have a friend who breeds bantam wyandottes. To the untrained eye or with a passing glance they look alot like bantam cornish. They were created in upperstate new york as a cold-weather dual purpose bird, not quite as cold as Alaska, but still cold. They lay well and have nice solid bodies, and they're pretty tough.

 

[ChickyLaura]

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To quote myself, I just want to say that I think Wyandotte banties would make good meaties if they were bred to be meatier. I think so many people are focused on their feather pattern, and not their "meatiness". The little guy I have is fluffy as all get out, so I was a little disappointed to feel that he was actually a scrawny little dude! This would be a neat project to work on.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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Have you seen any around? LOL. Bantam Chanteclers are harder to find than White LF Chanteclers! I haven't seen anyone with them in the states and I don't want to do the paperwork for getting them out of Canada.

But, they would be perfect.

 

[Ahab]

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Have you seen any around? LOL. Bantam Chanteclers are harder to find than White LF Chanteclers! I haven't seen anyone with them in the states and I don't want to do the paperwork for getting them out of Canada.

But, they would be perfect.

I think I saw some at our local dreadlocks-and-beansprouts agricultural fair back in September, but I've seen them mentioned here and there on BYC, and I googled "chantecler bantams" and got 10 pages of hits. One for Jim's Farm Stand, who posts here. Try the advanced search tool in the blue bar, above.