Hatching Day

Our little orange hen, who last year was only a chicken herself, is hatching some chickens today. I am very excited and I'm sure she is too.

Hatching Time

Eggs take twenty one days to hatch after the mother hen sits on them to keep them warm. This little hen has been sitting on the eggs for the twenty one days plus another two to three weeks.

As we live in a seaside town, we are not allowed to have a rooster, so the eggs our girls laid were not fertilized. You have no idea of the trouble I had trying to find fertilized eggs, let alone BANTAM fertilized eggs.

Bantams

Bantams are miniature chickens. Some are a smaller version of a large breed and there are a few breeds that are just miniature and don't have a larger version.

A normal size sized hen is, I think, quite large. They are called STANDARDS, meaning the large or normal size of a hen.

Egg Size

Standard hens eat more, take up more room and lay the size of the egg you get from the supermarket. Bantam hens eat less, take up less room and lay a smaller egg than those in the supermarket. Their eggs taste just the same.

If you normally eat two normal sized eggs, you could probably eat three bantam eggs.

Bantams are great Pets

Bantams are very friendly as you can see. These are the chickens from last year. Our little mother is the little orange hen in the background. The colour orange is called BUFF in the poultry industry.