BANTAMS FOR KIDDIES

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 60, 8 September 1933, Page 12

BANTAMS FOR KIDDIES

If space permits—and bantams will fle happyiunder almost any conditions, from a packing-case to a small corner of the garden—there ■is no- better hobby for ' kiddies than tho keeping of a few bantams. And they are good layers, too. Whilst their eggs may be small, they- are none the less useful for cooking, and there ate some Who say that bantams will produce more eggs for the food they eat than will poultry. Full- of ~ their own importance, they a-re useful pets, and will fend for themselves for a few days if the son of the house forgets to do his routine feeding. Incidentally the early'training of. regular attention to pets is very useful, and why should the pets not be profitable ones? After a few years-of bantams, house fowls will follow, with perhaps useful pocket money to be earned. Many breeds are available for selection, : but the little Pekin with tho feathered feet usually attracts the most admirers. These can be obtained in three common varieties, the white, the black, and the more common buff. The latter are sometimes called Cochin bantams, and more often just buffs. If egg production is a consideration, see that, their eggs are removed regularly, for they are very prone to cluck. Some poultrymen use them to hatch special chicks, as they are very reliable sitters and will cover as many as six or seven hen eggs, and brood still more chicks. Th'j long rows of exhibition bantam 3 at the poultry shows will prove that not only kiddies are interested in bantams, aiid many men make their breeding a very pleasant hobby. By all means insist that purebreds bo kept;1 their management is similar to pojultry.