PEKIN BANTAMS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1533, 18 July 1901, Page 58

PEKIN BANTAMS

If it is wished to keep fowls where the space that Is available is very limited, the desire can be gratified by investing in a few bantams. These little birds will live in comfort and health in “the smallest quarters, ana their tameness and beauty render them an endless source of interest and pleasure. As long as they can roost out of rain and draught, any sort of house will accommodate them. An old tea chest or sugar box will make an excellent abode for a cock and three or four hens. Though the eggs are small, and the hens do not lay so freely as those of the large breeds of fowl, bantams of good pedigree and pointsT will always realise high prices. There are 'numerous varieties of bantams which are-still being added to, as miniature editions of “the large fowls are frequently being produced. A very charming and attractive variety is the “Pekin Bantam. This is a small counterpart of the Cochin China, the soft plumage of that feather-legged 'monster forming a very suitable and pleasing clothing for this little bird The Pekin Bantam was first brought from China during the war of -1860. The original birds were buff in colour, and as they were owned at first by one person in England they were at length so interbred, and “so delicate, that they became almost extinct. Fortunately, before these had quite died out there was a fresh‘importation from China, and the new birds, crossed with those that were left of the original strain, soon resuscitated the breed. The result is that these curious and pretty bantams are now produced in great perfection, and in addition to the buff, there are •'now Black, white, Cuckoo, and partridge Pekins, all having their numerous admirers. With their feathered legs, short -back, soft fluffy cushion, and neat, firjp -textured comb, Pekins make extremely handsome little fowls. Possessing, as they do, all the tameness and the placid disposition of their large relatives, the Cochins, they are particulai'ly qualified-to be made pets of. The white Pekins are very showy, but unless they are kept in the country, they are liable to become dirty and soiled with smoke. Some of the white specimens at recent shows have been slightly deficient in leg feathering. Pekins are bred in large "numbers in America, where the white variety is specially good in texture of comb, and small in size. The buff and the black attain great excellence, -beautiful specimens being seen at the numerous exhibitions. The partridge Pekins have been produced comparatively recently and are -mostly rather large. Size, or rather the want of it, is a most important "poynt with bantams, though prizes are often awarded to birds that are not small enough. The buff Pekins, as with other buff fowls, are apt to come either too red or’dark in feather, or too light The difficulty is to obtain an even shade of buff throughout the entire plumage. Owing to the crosses that have been made use of in order to produce the' different varieties, a good many of the chickens come -with mismarked feathers. In the black, for example, coloured, or white feathers, will sometimes appear in the hackle of the cockerels. Though Pekin bantams were at first -delicate, they are now fairly hardy. As with most bantams, it is as well not to hatch the eggs before May, The -chickens and their parents can be fed in the same way as ordinary bantams. The young ones will be found to grow and mature quickly.