POULTR?-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 ocher 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. 
The prominent characteristic of the bantam is, of course, its diminutive 
size. In the exhibition room the smallest bird, other things being equal, 
wins. It is 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 
