I jumped into the backyard chicken idea before it became popular and have loved almost every moment. The moments I haven't loved: the neighbors dog raiding 5x, the mink that found us, the muddy spring clean up, the 20 below zero nights that I lay awake worrying about my birds.
The moments to love: the sweet little chirps of the chicks, the times when life is too hard and you can fall into a daze watching the simplicity of these creatures, the amazing omelets my husband and I make on weekend mornings, the flock running to me as fast as they can every time I set foot in the yard, the love my kids have for their pet chickens, the learning experiences for me and my kiddos, the individual personalities of the hens, the lack of pest insects and...... it goes on and on! (Below: Mille Fleur D'Uccle)
This is what I get after gathering eggs for a few days. These are eggs from the bantam and the standard size hens all heaped together. There isn't a crazy difference in the size, as you may notice. One thing I would like to do right here is give a shout out to the bantams! They are better producers than people are giving them credit for. I hear from random people and read on websites that the bantams don't produce well, but mine sure do. They are worth trying out if you are wanting the smaller birds.
Egg Size Comparison When I was looking into getting bantam (small) hens instead of standard sized hens I couldn't find any great information on the egg size they lay. Except that they are considered 'small chicken eggs'. But did that mean they would be the size of robin eggs? Well, here is my posting on the size of bantam eggs! The brown egg is from a 2nd year Wyandotte and the ivory egg is from a first time laying Silkie hen. When any hen starts to lay, her eggs are small but they slowly begin to lay larger eggs and eventually full size eggs of which they will lay for the rest of their life. So, since this ivory egg is the very first egg for this hen, it isn't as big as her eggs soon will be. Now that a few months have passed since this photograph when I compare the eggs I would say that the bantams eggs are about 55% the size of the full size Wyondotte and Cochin eggs. Yet when I bake with bantam eggs I double what the recipe asks for in eggs! Another great place for egg color facts: www.fresh-eggs-daily.blogspot.com
*Now that a year has past and the hens have matured, the egg size is 2/3's the size of the standard egg.*
*Now that a year has past and the hens have matured, the egg size is 2/3's the size of the standard egg.*
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| Blue Polish (Above) Most websites say that you should never mix polish hens with other breeds because the other hens will pluck their head feathers. I have never had a problem with this! Miss Mimm mixes great with the rest of the flock and she even seems to hold her own when treats are handed out! The only problem I have had with the polish breed is that every predator sees them as the easy prey so if you have a predator around, be sure to keep your polish where it is safe. Polish lay a beautiful large white egg. Some polish hens are poor layers and some are great layers, I get about 3 eggs a week from mine. |
Blue Laced Red Wyandotte Bantam (Above)
I love the wyandottes! They are docile and lay 1-2 eggs a day. Their eggs are off white to brown and more rounded than other breeds. This particular blue laced red wyandotte is not a prize winning specimen because she is more just a golden color with light gray to white lacing. The preferred specimens are a deep red with a silver to dark gray plumage. I had one in those colors and she was outstanding, beautiful.
Hermoine is our rescued hen. One Sunday afternoon we were driving to visit my parents when my husband noticed a chicken being chased through the park by kids! She ran into the bushes and hid while the kids kicked at the bushes to scare her out. I went over to see what the story was and it turns out that she had been in the park all day being chased by kids! I got her out of the bushes and took her home to rest by my flock. No one ever called about her when I put fliers up, so she became a part of our flock! After she got over being scared she became one of the sweetest birds in our yard and a great layer of extra large brown eggs.
Justice is our only standard sized ameraucana. She was named for the black cap she has, like she is serving justice. She lays one terracotta green egg a day consistently through the year. She is super friendly and hasn't gone broody once in her 3 years of life. (Note: She was sold to me as an ameraucana but the breed is deemed super rare. So, she is likely an easter egger or aricauna.)
Frizzle Cochin
Shirley is our frizzle Cochin. You can see her as a chick near the bottom of this page. As her feathers grew she looked like she had the wings of an angel! Because they can't sex bantams we ended up with a rooster frizzle too that was super outstanding with his curls and mane. He has gone to a new home now but I shot a few pics before he left to show the hen versus the rooster in these cool frizzles!
My cochin frizzles are pretty good layers, I'd say they are on the ornamental side but provide a decent amount of eggs. But, having a hen around that gets every persons attention and sometimes lays an egg is fine with me! I am looking into getting a splash frizzle next. Another one to look into is a frizzle silkie.
Silkies
The gray silkie is my son's bird, Fuzzy Bird. The white one is named Martha and when we had her a rooster his name was Stewart, Martha & Stewart! She is missing the tips of two toes because someone let the mink loose at a mink farm about 10 miles away. He got her toes but she lives on! Silkies are fair egg layers of ivory colored eggs.
Appenzeller Spitzhauben (Above)
This variety is from Switzerland. I have to admit that she is one of the coolest chickens ever. Cruella is always waiting on the back porch rail for a chance to visit, she's gorgeous (no other breed looks quite like her), she is social with my visitors and when I am in the garden she is at my feet. As you can see in her body language in the picture above, she is super interested anytime I talk to her. Cruella is a decent layer, 3-4 eggs a week year round, and never broody.
Oprah is my most vocal chicken, hence she earned her name. Anytime she wants food, attention or just has a thought creep into her head she tells me all about it. She is incredibly soft and fluffy and lays a fair amount of eggs. She looks winter scrappy in this photo but has the most amazing blue/green shine when the sun is out.
Red Riding Hood the red partridge cochin. She lays a light brown egg 4-5 days out of the week. A very social little bantam that eats out of my hand from on top of her favorite red fence.
Frizzle Cochin's get their 'frizzle' from a fluke genetic. Their young have about a 50% chance of inheriting the genetic. So far I have had 70% rate with the chicks that I ordered! You can find 'frizzle' in many other breeds too. I especially love the cochin and silkie frizzles.
These birds can't fly at all due to their feather structure. So, if you clip your chickens wings maybe consider getting frizzles instead~ 
Abby with her easter egger SnowflakeMarch 2012 Chicks
When choosing chicks refer to this chart www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks.html
My first born chick. A mix between a white frizzle cochin and partridge cochin. (Above)
White crested blue polish standard (above) and a white crested black polish bantam.
My May 2011 Bantam Chicks
When choosing hens look at this chart www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
Bantam Partridge Cochin
White Brahma
Ameraucana
Ameraucana and White Brahma
White Cochin Frizzle
White Cochin Frizzle and Gray Silkie
Blue Laced Red Wyandotte
Another view of the Mille Fleur
My May 2011 Bantam Chicks
When choosing hens look at this chart www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
White Silkie
Most people take a chance when they get bantam chicks because they can't be sexed. So, it's likely you will get 40-50% roosters! That means that you will feed, care for and raise 50% of a flock that will lay eggs for you and then be looking for homes or a place to send all or most of your roosters! Having said that, it's worth it. I love my bantams! Much, much smaller poop than the full size birds, great layers, much less food to purchase, all the same great hobo spider killing qualities and super sweet! My D'Uccles are the sweetest birds there are! They ride in baskets with my kids, sit on my shoulder, are inquisitive and every so often offer an egg! The Ameraucana hens lay an even brighter egg than the full size Ameraucanas that I have, and the Brahmas are much sweeter in this little size. I love the mini's! Of course I still love the big hens that I started out with (they are my first babies and introduced me to loving chickens) but I think I will move forward with only bantam chicks.
Farewell to the Roosters
I was lucky enough to find a farmer that wanted roosters for protecting his hens and raising babies. So, these beautiful boys get to live! I hate to see them leave but I got tired of seeing missing feathers on the hens necks and feeding mouths that don't give us eggs. (We are no-kill!)
Frizzle cochin and the mille fleur d'uccle.
The d'uccle Boots is shaking off the cold winter air, 15 degrees today! This bird is super tiny and just adorable. (I didn't bother taking a picture of the silkie rooster because he looked just like the hen but bigger and a bit longer neck feathers).
