[Pollyanna]

Hello everybody.  

I am new to the forums but have already posted in the introductions forum. I have three Silver Spangled Hamburgs and would like to increase my stock. My question is this: I want some more bantams but are unsure of the breed and I wondered if anybody could help me? The breed/type I am looking for are very small black speckled bantams, any ideas? I thought they might be Dutch or Pekin but I am not certain. Also, if anyone could point me in the direction of a suitable breeder, preferably in the North East area. I have looked through the lists of breeders within the site but the ones listed don't appear to stock the type that I am looking for. I would be willing to travel further afield for the right bantams if necessary, say within about a 50/80 mile radius of County Durham.

Thanks in anticipation, any help or suggestions as to what it is I am looking for will be greatly appreciated.

Pollyanna

[joyfull]

by black speckled do you mean they have black speckles or are black coloured with another coloured speckles on them? Speckled bantams could be dutch booted bantams such as sablepoots which come in several colours - millefleur, lemon/citrus millefleur and porcelaine millefleur. or the millefleur could also be barbu d uccles another pretty bantam breed again barbus come as several varieties d'uccles, d'anvers and de watermael.

[Pollyanna]

Hello Joyfull and thank you for your reply.
The bantams I had in mind were predominantly black with white or coloured speckles. I'm not sure about the breeds you mention as, like I say, I'm relatively new to keeping chickens. Perhaps my recollections of the bantams I kept as a child are pretty sketchy; it was a very long time ago!  If my dim and distant memory serves me correctly, they were very small birds, more or less on par with the size of a quail. I've searched Google images briefly in the hope that something would trigger my memory and point me to the breed that I am looking for. There again, I don't know if the birds we kept were pure bred birds or hybrids! 

Anyway, if anybody out there has the foggiest idea of what it is I am looking for, please, please let me know! Oh, and if you do have any, it would only be about four hens that I would want as I haven't got the facilities for a cockerel, and I also don't want to upset the neighbours! 

Pollyanna

[Pollyanna]

Update:

I've just done another Google images search and I think that I have come up with what I am looking for! The Barbu d'Anvers seems to fit my recollection perfectly! Small, speckled and most importantly, clean legged. My apologies but I can't be doing with hairy legs! 

Now that is sorted, can anyone please put me in touch with somebody who breeds them? I don't mind if they are young chicks, or older birds which are already laying but it would be nice to have chicks!

Thank you again to everybody!

Pollyanna

[joyfull]

have you looked at this section?:-

http://www.poultry.allotment-garden.org/poultry-suppliers/live-poultry-egg-supplier-north-east.php

Also if you don't mind a slightly bigger bantam that is white with black spots then you could opt for the appenzeller spitzhauben which lay a lovely white egg (I have 3 that Grannie Annie gave me  ), they are the dalmations of the chicken world.

http://www.appenzellerspitzhauben.co.uk/

[GrannieAnnie]

or the Exchequer Leghorn, about same size as appenzellers!

[joyfull]

they are the negatives of the dalmations 

[Pollyanna]

Hello Joyfull and GrannieAnnie,

Thank you both for the advice and especially to you Joyfull for giving me the names of possible bantams because without those, I wouldn't have been able to search Google images, so a HUGE thank you for that!

Thank you also GrannieAnnie for the link to the Breeders List. I had already checked this and I intend to contact one or two of them to see if they have anything that I might fancy.

I like the 'dalmation' types that you have both suggested, they are very similar to my Silver Spangled Hamburgs, who incidentally are called Harriet, Henrietta and Matilda! (How do I post photos?).

My quest for the smaller breed of bantams however, is harking back to the days of my childhood when I was given three, day old bantams as an Easter present!

Thank you again!

The search continues...

Pollyanna

[joyfull]

good luck with the search 

[Pollyanna]

Hello again everybody!

I have another question for all you chicken experts out there... Am I right in thinking that there are some breeds of bantams (aside from Silkies) which are flightless? I'm sure before I found this site that I read somewhere about flightless birds but I can't remember where I saw it as I forgot to bookmark the page, DUH! 

Also, has anybody here got or kept quails or partridges? My husband suggested these as an alternative to bantams but I have no knowledge of them whatsoever and wondered if it would be a good idea or not.

Thanks again,

Pollyanna

[Pollyanna]

Hello again everybody,

I thought that I would let you know that since I last visited here, I did a lot of research on the internet and found a list of Bantam shows. I found one quite close to where I live and went there on Saturday (25th). I got talking to a lovely Scottish gentleman who shows and breeds Silver and Golden Seabrights. I fell in love with these pretty little birds, in particular, the golden ones, and have decided that is what I am going to go for! The man gave me his contact details so as soon as I can sort out another hen house, I'll be taking a drive out to see what I can buy! Whoopee!

A bit of advice needed here though. Should I wait until the Spring and get some chicks or would it be okay to get them now? Living on the coast, we get some pretty nasty winds and I wondered if it would be better to wait until the weather picks up so that the chicks will have a better chance of adapting.

Pollyanna