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.
Topic: Dutch bantams (Read 1784 times)
