Chicken Littles

Chicken breeders have long realized the benefits of breeding small. Many standard-sized breeds have a smaller, bantam equivalent. Once again, they provide the perfect solution for the budding poultry-keeper who is short on space. Bantams require up to a 1⁄3 less feed and smaller housing. Despite a lot of negativity regarding output, although, of course, they’ll never match the large fowl in size or numbers of eggs produced. I’ve had incredible results with my bantam Wyandottes especially in terms of winter eggs produced. My bantam Ancona, Leghorn and Araucanas also proved to be extremely good layers. My kids also love the smaller size of the bantam eggs, and several meaty bantam breeds exist, too: Rhode Island Reds, Sussex and Cornish and their crosses.