POULTRT-CRAFT. 217 



CHAPTER XV. 



BANTAMS. 



317. Bantams May Be Made Profitable. Breeders of thoroughbred 

 fowls often find the popular varieties of bantams quite as profitable to handle 

 as most varieties of large fowls, and though bantams are not suited to market 

 poultry keeping they can often be used to furnish eggs and some poultry for 

 a small family living where large fowls cannot be kept. The hardier breeds 

 of bantams will thrive in very close quarters, and bantams of any kind can be 

 kept on a lawn or in a garden, without fear of their damaging it as large fowls 

 would. As layers, bantams are like other fowls good, indifferent, and bad. 

 One who keeps them for the eggs must select and breed for eggs, and if he 

 favors birds large for bantams, can get very fair sized eggs. For poultry, 

 bantams can hardly be used until well grown ; then, weight for weight, they 

 are equal to any fowls. Indeed, there are few varieties of large fowls that 

 make as plump carcasses as bantams do. 



318. Management of Bantams. In a general way the methods of 

 caring for large fowls are applied also to bantams but in a few particulars 

 to which attention will be called in the proper connection some of them 

 have to be considerably modified. Bantams ought not to be kept with other 

 fowls. Even when there is no danger of contamination, the bantams suffer 

 when obliged to compete for food with larger, heavier fowls, and very often 

 the other birds are spiteful toward and abuse the bantams. The rules for 

 mating bantams are except in one or two cases the same as for large fowls. 

 In general matings of Standard birds produce a good percentage of Standard 

 chicks. I 



The prominent characteristic of the bantam is, of course, its diminutive 

 size. In the exhibition room the smallest bird, other things being equal, 

 wins. If\js thus an advantage to an exhibitor to have his birds below 

 Standard weights provided other things are equal; that is if, though 

 under- weight,! they are in good condition, of typical shape, and have perfectly 

 developed plumage. Many bantam breeders in their eagerness to get light 

 weight specimens, produce birds which fail in these most essential points. 

 To get small bantams various means, such as late hatching, semi-starving, 

 are frequently resorted to; but such methods do not produce fine, well 

 developed specimens. The principal factor in producing small bantams is 

 selection for the breeding pen of the smallest obtainable specimens that are 



