[Bert]

Today I was introduced to the most handsome looking fella ever .  He was a gold Dutch bantam. I had to come home and google him because I didn't know what breed he was (and because I'm clueless  ). As soon as I get my life back on track, I'm getting a trio of them little bantams. They can keep me company while my black rocks are 2 fields away coursing mayhem  .
Any tip or advice about looking after bantams would be very helpful.

[in the hills]

I don't know much about them but my daughter would love some.


They wouldn't be able to free range here so I have put off having any ..... yet  . Easy prey for sparrowhawks ..... we have a lot of birds of prey. Think cats would take them too but was told that although small they would see off cats.    Not sure .... some of the barn cats around here mean business.


Was told they become very tame which surprised me as I thought they would be flighty when handled. Looking after them I would imagine is more or less like your Rocks or any other chooks. All much the same.


Sorry, that's the extent of my knowledge but they are beautiful wee things. 

[Bert]

Thanks in the hills  .
 Didn't think they would be any more difficult to care for than my black rock girls.

[chrismahon]

Bantams need less space and are more flighty Bert. We have English leghorn bantams -much bigger comb and better layers but can't take cold because of frostbite. Very colourful though. Dutch are nice little birds, but never rocked my boat.

[in the hills]

We put vaseline on the combs of our cockerels to protect them when temperatures were very low a year or two ago .... we were talking  - 16 though.

[chrismahon]

We had to re-home them in a tiny coop in the greenhouse when temperatures got below -5 In the hills. Then bought a propane brooder lamp and installed that to warm the greenhouse before they came out. It was touch-and-go with the cockerel's comb despite Vaseline and Snowfire , but it is huge. His headgear probably contains 25% of his total blood volume. When they reach their full size after three years or so it is a Northern practice to 'dub' them-remove the comb with a hot knife. We won't be doing that!!!

[Brijjy]

I've got 6 dutch bantams. Two partridge hens, two lavender hens, one mottled hen and a partridge cock. They were all hatched in an incubator and are pretty tame. They have free ranged on my acre but are currently on the garden patch, clearing it. The only thing different about these little guys as opposed to large fowl is that they can't manage layers pellets, so I give them mash with corn. The cock has stood his ground against a bigger Araucana cock but generally they ignore each other. He does have a crow like a rusty gate squeaking which may not be to everyones taste!

[Possum]

I bought a trio of golden dutch bantams a few months ago and they are an absolute delight. They were very young pullets when they arrived and we thought they were all hens, but one of them soon turned into a cockerel.   This wasn't what we really wanted, but he looks so splendid and is such a character that we decided to keep him. Fortunately we had called him Fudge, so his unexpected maleness didn't mean a name change. If we had called him Fenella or Florence, he might have had a bit of an identity problem!


They are all very friendly and a bit easier to look after than the larger chickens. They are flightier and sometimes fly up to the top of the chicken ark (much to the amazement of the larger girls). However, the don't seem to want to fly away and haven't flown over the fence which they are quite capable of doing if they wanted to.


I feed them Marriages layers pellets which are reasonably small and they don't seem to have any problem eating them.

[sokel]

I love Golden Dutch and will have some more one day.
its about 6 years since we last had them and ours where very tame, one used to come into the front porch every morning and lay her egg behind the door.
Then next doors dog got out and killed her 

[Bert]

I love Golden Dutch and will have some more one day.
its about 6 years since we last had them and ours where very tame, one used to come into the front porch every morning and lay her egg behind the door.
Then next doors dog got out and killed her 

I'm with you there, I will have some one day. Got a few other things to sort out before I can get any more birds.
Sorry to hear how you lost your last ones.