Famous bantam chicken breed

Bantam is a small chicken or dwarf chicken. It is shorter than common chicken. People care this bird not for meat and eggs. It produces few meat and few eggs. They care this bird for ornamental bird, or game bird.
There are some famous bantam breeds, such as:

Japanese Bantam (Chaebo)

It is a famous bantam from Japan. In shogun era, only Japanese aristocrats cared the chicken. It is only 20-30 cm height. The cock weighs 30 oz; while, the hen weighs 22 oz. The color of Chaebo is white, white black tail, buff, and others.

Dutch Bantam (Hollandse Krielsen)

It is originated in Dutch. The Dutch sailor brought the chicken from Java Island. They have many color variation such as partridge, lavender, black, white, grey, and others. It has red single comb. Averagely cocks weigh 550 grams and hens weigh 450 grams.

Silky bantam (Silkie)

Silkie is a bantam from Chinese. The hen can lays up to 250 eggs in a year like a commercial chicken breed. As guest its name, the chicken has soft silky feather. The silky have color variations such as white, black and buff. The white is the famous silky color.

Unlike other chicken, Silkie has blue face and earlobes. Some Silkie has crested. The color of meat is dark blue. Some people said the meat could cure some diseases. I think it is just a myth.

Sebright bantam

It was developed in England by Sir John Saunders Sebright. They have two color variation silver and golden. The cock has big red rose comb. Unlike other chicken, the cock has short tail that is similar to the hen tail. The sexual difference of the bird is the comb. The cock has bigger comb than the hen. The males weigh 22 0z (625 gram) in average; while, the females weigh 20 oz (570 g)


Belgian bantam

It is a unique bantam breed. The thick plumage covers the feet and shanks. As guest its name, this bird origin is Belgian. The bantam has thick feather below the beak or beard. They have many color variation like black, white, blue, gray, mottled, white, calico and others.

Serama Bantam

Serama is a Malaysian hybrid bantam. The ancestor of the chicken is Silkiy Bantam, Malaysian native chicken and Japanese Bantam. The bantam is the shortest chicken in the world. It weighs less than 500 gram. The price is very expensive. The price could reach thousand dollars. They have color variation such as partridge, buff, black, calico, gray and others.

Dutch Bantam Profile

Dutch Bantam is the most famous Bantam in the world. This bird is risen for ornamental bird. Hence with its name, it is originated or domesticated in Dutch or Holland. The height is only 20 cm. The cock is only 500 grams and the hen is only 400 grams weight. The cock has long wide curve tail. The comb is red blood single.  The cock has bigger comb than the hen. Dutch bantam has many color variation such as red partridge, green partridge, gray, black, and others.

The bantam is different with common bantam because in its tail and wing. Common bantam has vertical tail and near-vertical wing. On the other hand, the tail and wing of dutch bantam is similar like domesticated chicken.

Some story said that the Dutch trader imported the bantam from South East Asia. I believe it is  Java Island origin bird because Java was under Dutch East India company or VOC occupation. It is descendant of Gallus Bankiva or red jungle fowl which is from Java and Sumatra.

A Dutch bantam hen is a prolific layer that can lay up to 160 eggs per year. The eggs is light brown or cream color which size is smaller than common chicken.The hen will hatch its egg. The dutch hen is also the best mother so you can entrust them to keep their chick. Due, the prolific and the size, this bird is suitable for backyard pet. You do not need to use large backyard for raising this bird.

Photo by steve p 2008

Read also : famous bantam heritage breed