Bantams
(Part 1)

The Origins of the Bantam

Bantam is the name of a town and district in the northwest of Java. In 1595 the Dutch established themselves at Bantam, and in 1602 the English erected a factory in the same place. The Bantam area was the first possession of the English in the East Indies.

The locals sold the beautiful native Bankiva jungle fowl from Bantam to the British who took them back to England. Their beauty and their small size made them very popular in England. Eventually the word Bantam was used to describe all small poultry.

Later there were imports of bantams from China (Pekins) and Japan (Japanese) while there is no reliable evidence that these birds too were derived from jungle fowl; it would seem fairly certain that they were.

As well the birds imported from these countries many bantams, were developed from breeds of large fowl. Generally the bantams from these large birds are 25 percent of the equivalent large bird size. There are many different ornamental breeds, some with very remarkable features. Such as beards, exotic plumage, feathered legs, some with very long tail feathers on the cockerels.

There are bantam types called Frizzles: which have round bodies and feathers instead of the conventional straight feathers of most other breeds of hens. They originated from China and Japan. In this breed there are many colours: black, blue, buff, white, as well as many colours similar to Old English Game colours as well as Rhode-Island-Red type colouring. There are many colours in this breed, it is also claimed by many breeders that they are quite good layers.

There are also the Silkies, which have soft down all over including the tail. Colours in silkies are usually restricted to white, black, gold and partridge. The silkies get their name from the nature of their plumage: their feathering with its downy silky appearance. Silkies make very good mothers: they usually lay a clutch of 12 to 18 eggs then go broody sit on their eggs.

While bantams are mainly kept as a relaxing hobby, some produce a good supply of eggs.

Husbandry and Care

Like all fowl bantams require fresh clean water, sunlight, dry litter on the floor and roosts to perch on at night, and of course nests. The litter floor needs to be 12 to 16 center meters thick. This litter can be made up of cut-broken straw, chaff or if available rice hulls. The idea is to have a deep litter floor, which is always dry and pliable so that it will absorb the droppings into it. Once the floor is 'working well' it will always look and smell fresh, and will only need to be cleaned out once a year, sometimes even less. The pleasure of having bantams as a enjoyable hobby is having the floor 'working' and remaining clean and fresh, without any smells. It is not difficult to achieve and it is well worth the little effort at the start, perhaps at first a little raking over may help.

Your poultry pen should always be a place where you are happy to show visitors, and where the birds themselves look clean and contented. With their fresh clean water, and feed hanging from the roof in a hopper, well above the floor, so that vermin can not get into it. The pen or shed needs to have plenty of light, free from winds and at some time during the day have some sun shine on at least part of the floor.

In very hot climates the birds will need to be protected from the sun and heat. I always prefer to have wooden slats on the weather side(s) and wire netting on the protected sides of the pen. To make it look attractive and blend in with the garden surroundings you could grow a creeper over part of the pen.

The correct size of the shed or pen

As a guide the ideal space for two Bantam hens and one rooster is 1.5 m2 (16 square feet) per bird. This is the same area that was used when I first started poultry farming with the deep litter system in my twenties, and they were large birds not bantams. Today's commercial farms are much more crowded than this. But this original space recommended per bird, is still ideal for back garden and hobby poultry keepers, it has proved itself over many, many years.

Ventilation

Poultry need a great deal of fresh air, as they are very sensitive to heat or humid weather.

Perches

An ideal size of the perches would be about 4 to 5 cm wide and 3 cm thick. The length required: four adult bantams would need about a 1 m perch length. The height of the perches above the floor will depend on the breed of bantams you have: some will have difficulty getting to perches if they are more than about 40 cm above the floor. Perch height will need to be a trial and error job with each individual poultry keeper and the breed of birds kept.

A free-ranging run

As with all animals, bantams do well when they are kept as close to their natural requirements as possible. They love to scratch and forage, have dust baths, or sit in the shade or sun. The ideal place for a run is in a fruit tree orchard or on open grassland. But remember hens, unlike ducks, do scratch and dig holes etc. in your back garden and even a small number of them will soon have an average size suburban back garden looking like a waste land. One way of over coming this is to let them out about 30 minutes before it gets dark: this way they will not have time to do too much damage before they go to roost. A compromise can usually be worked out, keeping hens in the back garden doesn't mean you have to forget or neglect your garden, you need to be able to enjoy both.

Nest boxes and nests

Hens like to lay their eggs in a nest that is quiet and semi darkened, and in a well-prepared place with good clean nesting material. Some poultry keepers claim a hen can spend up to two hours in the nest during her egg laying: I very much doubt this, but she does like to spend some time in the nest during her laying the egg, so the nest is an important peace of equipment in your pen.

A dust bath

Hens dust themselves to help condition their plumage and they also find it an enjoyable past time. Sometimes you may have a natural part of your poultry yard that the hens will make their own dust bath: if not you will need to prepare a dust box. It can be made out of wooden board or whatever. The best material to put in it is a combination of fine dry earth and some clean dry sand. This mixture needs to be from 14 to 20 cm deep. Any droppings need to be removed frequently. The dust box must be in a spot that is protected from the rain.

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If when one of your hens becomes broody and you want to set some eggs under her, she needs to have a separate nest of her own away from the other hens in a separate place. Transferring her to these new surroundings needs to be done at night.

In this essay I have only been able to give a very brief outline of the pleasures and requirements of keeping bantams in your back garden, if you want to go into more detail regarding building a pen or other aspects, such as showing your birds, then go to your local library or book shop or attend a poultry show near you. Chook people are always very helpful and friendly people; they are good people to get to know.

Good luck with your bantams.

References:

1. Batty, Dr. Joseph. 'Bantams and Small Poultry' Beech Publishing 1996
2. Batty, Dr. Joseph. 'The Silkie Fowl' Beech Publishing1996
3. Damiano, John 'From our discussions and some photos of his birds. 2002
4. Fritzsche, Helga. "Bantams' A complete Pet Owner's manual.
5. Barron's Educational Series, Inc. 1986.
6. Martin, Robert 'From work diaries and other notes…gathered during a life-time
   as a chook person'