The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: James1 on October 31, 2015, 12:22:20 pm
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Hi, I was wondering if any forum users had experience of Dutch bantams. Do they lay in winter or are they more of a spring/summer layer? Does anyone have any idea of egg numbers? Many thanks james1
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These characteristics are going to be very much strain dependant James1 and you will need to talk to the breeder. As an example we keep Brown English Leghorn bantams which are very similar indeed to Dutch anyway. The hens laid extremely well for two years then packed up, as you would expect of Leghorns. The eggs were nearly 50 grammes, which is amazing for such a small bird being only ¼ size of the large fowl version. However when we crossed with a cock from a different line the egg size reduced and so did the frequency but the laying period extended. We have now double crossed and the eggs are only 32g, so we have a lot of breeding to do to get the egg size back- could take a lifetime!
This isn't the only example we have of breeding line crosses that ruined laying performance- our TNN's have gone wrong as well both with size and rate. Buff Orpingtons are well known to have very different laying rates as some do 200 eggs a year (in the first year as the original version used to), but some will only lay 50. Problem is show breeders are not interested in laying characteristics at all, so the old breeds are going downhill fast in that respect.
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We have a trio and the two hens are currently going through the moult so not laying at the moment.
When they were laying, we tended to only get 1 egg per day from them, obviously a lot smaller than the eggs from the other hens.
Regards
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We used to have a trio and they were lovely, lively birds. We got one egg a day from each of the hens when they weren't broody. The eggs were quite big as well, considering the size of the hens.
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Thank you all for your replys , much appreciated.