Farmyard bantams

elfael · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:49 am

Does anyone know the origins of the farmyard bantams that used to be around 20 - 30 years ago (and probably still are, somewhere)? I used to have some as a child - the roosters were usually jungle fowl colours, with beautiful long spurs; the hens could be any shade from glossy black to brown to cream, and they usually had a laced collar. I remember them breeding very true to type. They were a nice compact chicken shape, with clean legs and a single comb (as far as I can remember). They were great sitters and great pets, and I'd often be walking around the yard with one balanced on my shoulder. So many people have been driven out of poultry up here that I can't find any at the moment.

The closest picture I've been able to find is at http://www.feathersite.com//Poultry/CGK ... egBty.html, though they were a little more compact than that. Does anyone have suggestions as to what they might have been?

I used to polish my rooster's spurs and watch him chase my grandmother around the yard ... I was an evil child. :evil:

Peacocks Australia · **Joined:** Wed Jan 02, 2002 9:14 am **Posts:** 310755

Hi Elfael, the link doesn't want to work? Were they the shape of a Pekin or more like an Old English Game?

Liked you last comment :lol:

Thanks
P.A :lol:

Happyhenz. · **Joined:** Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:49 am **Posts:** 607

i think i know what you mean we had some of these type of birds when i was a kid.
they were only a small bantam and very quiet.
We had some black ones, gold ones and some blue ones.
The hens only had very small combs.
The roos were a gold colour with red and a long black tail.

DSound like yours?

Jeff Trescott · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:05 am

They sound nice, have we lost a breed like that? what a shame if we have

Jeff

Happyhenz. · **Joined:** Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:49 am **Posts:** 607

here the correct link from above.
Yes they looked a bit like that but differnat colours and perhaps smaller?
The werent any particular breed just small bantam mixes i think.
i do see some from time to time when im travelling around the place.

http://www.feathersite.com//Poultry/CGK ... egBty.html

elfael · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:32 am

Happyhenz, that sounds very much like them! When we've all settled into a more normal routine after the Christmas festivities I'm planning to approach some of the farmers around Woodstock to see if I can find some, as our original stock came from out that way.

They weren't anything like an OEG - much squatter, more compact - and they didn't have the fluff of a Pekin. They were shaped like what I like to think of as 'normal chickens'.

The pictures on the website are of Leghorn bantams, and they're not exactly right, but they're closer than anything else I've seen. The reason the link won't work is because I cleverly put a comma after it. Try again:
http://www.feathersite.com//Poultry/CGK ... egBty.html

Rebecca

(And my grandmother deserved it ... )

Jeff Trescott · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:35 am

Maybe a Leghorn x pekin?

I have seen some strange bantams but assumed they were just crosses I will pay more attention :-D

Jeff

Happyhenz. · **Joined:** Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:49 am **Posts:** 607

no i think they were just little chooks.
Not any particular breed just small chooks.
I know the ones i had used to give me all sorts of colours in their chicks.
Thats where i got the love of chooks from these cute placid little things.
Facinating to watch and like you i had a couple of favs who loved to perch on my shoulder ala parrots style as i strolled around the farm.
I even had about 6-7 who were a common site in the lounge room :lol:

I used to breed them up and sell the babies at the local fetes and markets i never came home with any left but used to come home with all new chicks from someone else :lol:

Muscovy J · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 12:37 pm

hi guys.
i remember growing up on the farm my dad had farmyard hens and he use to bring in a new rooster every couple of years . he had mostly black color birds . i think there use to be a lot of people who just had xbred hens and use to use a pure bred roosters every few years . my old man use to use black orpingtons . so most of the hens had the same look as black orpingtons with a small bit of color on them and most were only the size of bantams a lot smaller than orpintons .

elfael · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 4:03 pm

Thanks everyone!

I knew they had to be some sort of crossbreed, I just didn't know what of, or how they came to be so small. They certainly weren't deliberately bred by anyone I knew, they were just 'the chooks' in the back yard. I never saw a blue though. I guess ours weren't quite that exotic

Some leghorn blood does seem likely.

I know they're not any recognised breed (though the local ones were so inbred that they'd breed as true as most

), but I'm having a wave of Christmas nostalgia. The idea of my kids having the same fun I used to has a strange appeal.

Maybe we should all get together and develop them as a true Australian breed - the PA Bantam perhaps? :lol:

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