I have one, count ’em, one bantam. Spartacus. He used to say, “Prepare to die,” all the time, then the other chickens grew up and he realized he’d better be a little more politic than that.
I used to have a little banty hen, too, but she came to a bad end just as she was on the brink of fulfilling her dreams of motherhood. (See here. That raccoon tail is still nailed to my front porch post.)
I love banties. They’re funny little chickens that make funny little eggs. You need about three banty eggs to make one regular chicken egg. Their eggs are kinda ridiculous. He was hatched of my very first incubator batch, which came from eggs I got from a neighbor of my cousin’s. They had a mixed group of chickens there, and two banties hatched out from the eggs I had.
The other roosters truly do not pick on him.
For the most part, they don’t pay much attention to him. Neither do the hens. In the spring, I’m planning to finally get some more banties.
My little banty roo’s been alone long enough.
Tanya Miller says:
I have a banty Roo too- but he has befriended my White Crested Polish! But they are cute lil cocky Roos!! :0) :chicken: :chicken: :chicken: :chicken:
On November 20, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Jo says:
What a superb little roo!
I had four little banty’s given to me….two Delaware and two Buckeye, but I lost one of my little Buckeyes. Still not sure what happened to her.
They are cute, but I just don’t see the “purpose” in them. The eggs are too small, they just seem like something one would have for the fun of it and I guess I’m just too practical. I probably won’t get anymore bantys.
On November 20, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
Jo, they really are just for fun!
On November 20, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Ang. says:
We have a small flock of bantys. Love those little chickens! We have some little Easter Eggers and some D’Uccles and some Silkies and some Cochins. All of them are nice little birds.
On November 20, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Tammy says:
He is such a pretty animal!
On November 20, 2010 at 6:40 pm
KentuckyFarmGirl says:
I have bantam Cochins with little fuzzy, feathered legs and I just love them. They are so sweet-natured. I agree with the “for fun” part!
On November 20, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Heidi says:
I love my bantams. We started out with two and now are up to five. I’m thinking we will need some more next year. And let me know when you want me to send eggs. :o)
On November 20, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
I would love that, Heidi! It doesn’t really warm up enough here till May, so I probably don’t want to start eggs sooner than April in the incubator.
On November 20, 2010 at 7:01 pm
texwisgirl says:
He’s a handsome little devil! I’d want more of them running around too! 🙂
On November 20, 2010 at 8:03 pm
Cheryl LeMay says:
Banties are cute, but you can’t fence them in or out of anything. Mine were terrible to all my gardens – flowers, veggies, herbs – you name it. They dug up seeds and plants looking for bugs.They scratched out all my mulches in their search for bugs. They buried plants with their scratching. One got hit by a car. They are great foragers, but do a lot of damage in the process. I finally had to resort to caging them for half the summer so my plants and seedlings could grow. I will never raise them again.
On November 20, 2010 at 8:08 pm
farmershae says:
Oh, he is just a dandy little rooster! We have a couple banty cochin hens too, and I just love their bums. We call them foofy-foo’s. They are not practical, but adorable beyond belief. :heart: I used to carry our RIR banty around while I did chores… until something had her for dinner 😕
On November 20, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Whaledancer says:
Oh, thank goodness! When I saw the title “Little Roo”, I thought maybe you’d gotten a kangaroo joey. 😉
On November 20, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Barbee' says:
Cute fowl and perfect shot that last one! Suzanne, your photo is placed second in the contest list, I wonder if that means you are in second place? Vote! Vote! Vote! Everyone, :woof: :shimmy:
https://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/64175/voteable_entries
On November 20, 2010 at 11:42 pm
thunja says:
that first pic is just awesome. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours
On November 21, 2010 at 2:05 am
Zusiqu says:
That last picture is fantastic! Poor widdle roo…
On November 21, 2010 at 8:18 am
Leah says:
I was thinking the same thing, i like the last picture of Spartacus too. Looks like he’s sayin “Prepare to die!” I didnt realize he was the only Banty you had left. :chicken:
On November 21, 2010 at 8:52 am
Jersey Lady says:
When our boys were little and we lived in CA, we had a small banty flock. One of our hens disappeared. We found her in the neighbor’s garage sitting on 12 eggs.She hatched them all out too.Henrietta was quite the gal.
On November 21, 2010 at 9:06 am
Louise says:
I love bantams too, they have so much character and are often gentlemen with the ladies!
I have found that the true bantams such as Sebrights and Dutch do often lay small eggs (most of them were originally bred for showing), but the bantam versions of larger breeds tend to lay bigger eggs,with a larger proportion of yolk to white( 3 banty eggs = 2 med hens)ie Rhode island red, Marrans, Light Sussex, Hamburghs etc, and crossbred bantams lay like the clappers!
On November 21, 2010 at 9:10 am
Granny Mountain says:
There’s nothing as fearless as a Banty rooster well maybe a chihuahua! He needs a Mrs. maybe he needs his own little flock, a kingdom to rule over!
On November 21, 2010 at 9:11 am
Miss Becky says:
oh I love that last photo Suzanne. He’s looking like a force to be reckoned with. What has happened with that little hen “Spraddle” with the weird feet/legs? Or perhaps I don’t want to know? :bugeyed: :bugeyed: :bugeyed:
On November 21, 2010 at 11:18 am
Barbee' says:
Oh, that’s right! What about Spraddle?
On November 21, 2010 at 12:27 pm
EBet says:
We love the banty eggs for making buffalo eggs, they’re hard boiled and soaked in Tabasco sauce, yum!!!
On November 21, 2010 at 2:46 pm
princessvanessa says:
Look how he is stretching up on his tip-toes to try and make himself as tall and big as possible. It is too funny. Now I can see how the phrase “strutting around like a banty rooster” came about.
On November 21, 2010 at 4:18 pm
Angela says:
Hey Suzanne!
That’s the little rooster that made me and the kids laugh so hard when we were at your party! :chicken: He would crow when we were down there looking at him just like he was a big rooster. My son tried to catch him too! :yes: He was my favorite! :shimmy:
Angela :wave:
On November 21, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Ramona says:
He’s cute. I have one little banty hen.
On November 22, 2010 at 9:47 am