Chicken Breed Focus - Japanese Bantam

[abbevilleoz]

I don't think I'm going to get any more bantams (although silkies are a little too tempting), just going to get about ten chicks in april, and a rooster, so I can breed my own flock.

If you want to let your flock free range and you want good egg production I always liked Brown Leghorns. I love their color, which also provides camouflage. They're flighty but not unfriendly. Quick enough to run or fly from danger. The rooster I kept was very gentle. Best I remember they would eat treats out of my hand. I really liked the ones I had and they came from a hatchery. The only drawback is they have huge combs and wattles. Even the hens have big combs. Frostbite is not a concern for me since I live in the south.

 

[allosaurusrock]

We might get leghorns. My sister (3) was wanting a white chicken so one may be on our chick shopping list in April.

 

[DiYMama540]

Also known as Chabo, the Japanese bantam is a small ornamental breed of chicken. A very old breed, they were created in Japan perhaps as early as the 7th century and imported into Europe by the sixteenth century. They are said to be quite long lived. The Japanese Bantam are a true bantam, in that it does not come in a standard size. They are a good choice for urban coops, or for the poultry lover that wants a pet that won't be too destructive to lawns. The breed is a popular show bird with hobbyists and the hens have a very sweet nature which makes them popular as pets for children.

They are a breed with a distinctive appearance, ideally with clean, very short legs, which gives them a waddling gait. The short leggedness is caused by a single lethal gene, so all birds with the desired short legs are heterozygous for the gene, embryos with two copies die before hatch and birds without the gene have regular (longer) legs. They should also be squirrel-tailed, having a very upright forward sweeping tail carriage. They have a single comb, which is usually quite large on the males, making them rather sensitive to cold and frostbite. They come in a wide variety of colors, with Black-tailed White, Black, White, and Black-tailed Buff, probably the most popular, and they are also popular frizzle feathered. The hens are poor layers, but good broodies and mothers.

It was recognized by the APA in 1874 .

Details:

Breed purpose: Ornamental
Comb Type: Single
Broodiness: Frequent, good mothers
Climate Tolerance: Heat tolerant, large combs make males prone to frostbite.
Weight: rooster 28oz, hen 22oz.
Egg Productivity: Poor
Egg Size: tiny
Egg Color: Tinted

Rooster picture by @bantambury

Hen picture by @bantambury


Breeding trio pic by @Megs


BYC Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/japanese

General breed discussions & FAQ thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/286125/japanese-bantam-thread/0_20


Do you own Japanese Bantams? Are you a Japanese Bantam breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

Great information on the breed!! So much beauty in a tiny package!!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Many years ago I had a pair. They were very sweet little birds.

 

[Huntergatherr]

Has anyone gotten them from Cackle Hatchery?

 

[gimmie birdies]

I was at the fair once and at the chicken booth, of course, and I heard the loudest crow ever. I wanted to know who was making all that racket. I was a small Japanese rooster. I said to him, "You were the one making all that noise? You think a whole lot about yourself, don'tcha?!" He looked at me in the eye and put his wing down and did the round up the hen dance towards me... I was in love!

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

Do you recommend that they stick to only bantams as companions? Are they very social? Could they make it with a mixed flock?

I had two Japanese bantam hens and a silkie integrated with about 8 regular-sized hens. The Japanese bantams held their own. In fact, the bantams were downright feisty and wouldn't let a full-sized hen tell her what to do! The bantam would stand on toes and jump up to be the same height at the other chicken, seemingly saying, "Don't you dare try that on me!" The Japanese bantams went broody a lot! They were good moms - incubated two broods and raised a half-dozen ducks placed in a broody's nest as day-olds.

 

[Pekin747]

Do you own Japanese Bantams? Are you a Japanese Bantam breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!
[/QUOTE
1.currently have 4 2 Male 2 females but a friend is taking 1 pair and I'm keeping 1 pair
2. I plan on breeding japs this year or next year depending on how things go
3.i love there style and how they act
4.im keeping them for breeding but if I fall in love with them they could end up joing my retirement grew who just lay about and do as they please
5.i love how they know what they want I have been handling my pair to get them used to me and if they dont want to be held then they just scream but at other times they could be climbing up my arm looking for attention

 

[drumstick diva]

At first look I thought they were Seramas.

 

[Elliebeans]

This is my little girl Suzi Q, named by my mother after the singer. She's foster mother to Miss Piggy, a Silkie only a couple of weeks younger than her but twice the size. Pig Pig's only hatch mates died so we took Suzi, the gentlest of her group and put them together. Since then they're always together, Piggy following her like a lost puppy. Suzi presents Piggy and removes whatever gets caught in her feathers and never minds when Piggy takes food from her beak. She's a very patient little girl.