The standard and the bantam are the two categories in the sizes of chicken. When the usual range of the chicken is termed standard, the tinier version of the original size is the bantam size. Here the varieties of chicken are not the criteria to decide on standard or bantam and hence their hens can lay both types of eggs.

The Bantam eggs appears little than the standard eggs with their sizes in the range of quarter to half of the standard size. The said size variations in eggs occur due to the difference among varieties. The yolk is huge in size in bantam eggs and out sizes the albumen. Bantam eggs is similar to other eggs irrespective of its tiny size as well as it is edible. It can be hatched and are marketable.

The quantum of intake in human is high in the case of bantam eggs and this entire are due to its tiny size. The finer thing in bantam eggs is its cost that is lesser than standard eggs making it a most after sought one in the market. The egg is also not much differentiated with standard eggs.

When bantam eggs are hatched with the help of bantam hens, the procedure followed in preparing them to hatch is similar to be followed with standard eggs and the success rate of chickens hatched out of the eggs is high. Bantam hens adjust to well to the environment and be calm in solitary. The hens tend their eggs or chick with at most care and protect it from predators bravely.

The cocks in Bantam variety appear tiny in size but gives utmost care to their hens and chivalrous. Such a behavior makes it an ideal choice to rear them. Original varieties of bantam chicks are very much available. One among it is the Silkie variety and a very common one. Silkie are very much dependable in hatching chickens out of the eggs. However, they are poor egg yielding ones.

One another variety is Cochin bantams, which give a good yield of eggs. The quantum of eggs yielded by them is so high and wide in colors. They are very soft by nature and occupy lesser space in their nest. Such hens are very serious in nature and take care of their chicks well.

Bantams are common domestic favorites and some people raise them as a leisure time activity. Their lush, hatch able eggs are widely demanded by homeowners. Such a continuous demand for Bantams eggs attributes it for use of Bantam hens for culling as well as for nurturing them just for fun and time pass.

Bantam eggs are stocked in farms that are specialist in producing hatch able, lush eggs of bantam varieties. The bantam eggs that give out chickens with a surprising success rate of 90 % are available through online firms by a click of a mouse or by a phone call.

Incubators are also in use to hatch chickens out of bantam, lush eggs. The method followed for hatching chickens out of bantam eggs is similar to the standard varieties of eggs. If you are not well verse in the process of incubating, guides found in the internet are handy to bail out you out of it as well as good incubators can be shopped through Internet.

Bantam chicken eggs are not much different from the standard egg. The motive behind the rearing bantams is for egg yielding, nourishment, mode to earn extra bucks and a method of projecting one’s image. Bantam’s keeps the owner occupied and enrich his time as well shower him with nourishing tasty eggs.

Once you make up your mind for breeding a small flock of chicken for all purposes, your first task is to identify a suitable breed that confines to your interest. You may choose a particular breed from the different varieties available, with a general understanding, that all breeds are for all needs.

•     Breeds for all needs: The largest commercial production of chicken is for the purpose of meat and eggs. Chicken breeds and hybrids of different varieties are generally defined and recorded in hatcheries and feed centers and there is no difficulty in selecting particular breed.

Hybrid crosses with their inborn physical strength and energy and can serve well in small production folks. Some consistent practical studies have proved that the traditional breeds have an edge over others, in the breeding process, which is already endorsed by the farmers’ group years back. The back ground study also fortifies this view.

•     In all major commercial centers, chicken are not allowed to grow for more than 18 months. The boilers and fryers are processed for food within 4 to 16 weeks and not beyond. In chicken business, longevity is not at all a considered factor.

However in small production units, long life of chicken is taken as a sign of vitality of the breed, low mortality, high productivity and strong body conditions.

Breeds and Varieties

The breed of a chicken is decided based on its body condition, quality of feather and comb. A particular variety within a breed itself is decided on the basis of color, comb, muff, tuff or feather conditions. The off- springs of the breeds are almost similar to the parental breed or at least 50 percent so.

Breeding sticking to the American Standard of perfection is a general motto of the American poultry Association. For hybrid production, chicken are crossed between two or three breeds.

Breeding folks of parental breeds are preserved for supply of the same breeds. Small commercial farms generally buy the hybrids of their choice from the hatcheries. Everything depends on the quality you desire to buy. Among a wide variety of the breeds in the market, the final choice is exclusively your own.

How Many Breeds?

If you start with a single breed, you have to concentrate on it, in order to become an expert. Your expertise puts you through a proper experience on that breed. If multiple breeds are kept, it would improve general expertise of the person. It can help understand the differences between two or more breeds.

If you maintain pure breeds, rely on the standard of perfection to learn about the characteristics of the chicken folk. If you want to retain a particular breed of your own, a lot of home work would be necessary. Many producers change the breeds in due course of time, finding more confidence in some other breeds.

How to choose what breed? In commercial production field, chicken are categorized as meat birds, egg birds and duel purpose birds. Leghorn breeds are known for high egg productions; among them are varieties producing brown eggs and organic eggs. There are other famous varieties like Cornish and Rock, that are exclusively used in the meat market.

Dominique-type chicken were popular in America from early 19th century, while Wyandotte were developed after the civil war that later entered to American standard 1905.

This variety still conquers the poultry markets. The eggs of all chicken irrespective of breeds are consumable and the traditional breeds are hatched as dual purpose birds for eggs and meat.

Owning a small flock of chicken is the new trend nowadays and city dwellers are discovering the delights of raising their own chicken. This article tackles the basics of raising and maintaining a few chickens in an urban setting.

But first, what are the benefits of raising hens? Well, there are many.

Aside from being an excellent source of food hens will help you in your pest control, to grow a healthy garden and can even be a pet to your children. Since insects, including potentially harmful insects like grasshoppers, fire ants, ticks, termites, fleas, flies are all food for the hens they act as a means of natural pest control.

Chicken are even known to kill and eat scorpions! So, when you have chicken you can stop spending money on dangerous chemicals and let the chickens do the work for you for free. Another side benefit of raising your own chicken is the chicken manure you’ll get for your garden which when mixed with other organic materials like saw dust, wood chips makes for an excellent and natural fertilizer which can even outperforms the commercial fertilizers.

But make sure that you mix it with some composting material because it is too potent by itself. One of the best benefits of raising chicken is that it can give a hands-on learning experience to your children and chicken are gentle enough to be considered as house pets.

Of course, the main and most obvious benefit of raising chicken is the steady flow of fresh eggs. Home grown eggs are much better than the eggs you purchase in your local grocery store and as a rule almost always taste much better mostly because those eggs come from chicken farms where chickens are commercially raised and the main concern for the farms is mostly the profits and not the quality of care or even feed provided to the chickens.

Determine how many eggs you can consume and give away or sell in a day and limit your flock to that amount considering that each hen will lay one egg approximately every 24 hours. Do not make the mistake of raising too many hens.

The first step in starting your chicken farm is by collecting information about local rules and regulations regarding raising chickens within city limits like the number of chicken you are allowed to keep etc. Mostly this information can be had by making a phone call to your city hall or by simply checking their website.

Roosters are usually banned in most cities due to the nuisance they create but since you don’t need them anyway this is not much of a problem. Once you get your legal issues straight its time to buy the chicks.

You can buy one day old chicks in spring at your local feed store. Before purchasing the chicks do make sure that they have been vaccinated against Marek’s disease and Coccidiosis and that they come from a flock which has been tested for Salmonella.

Chicks are too small to be kept in chicken coops right away and should be kept in small pen or box with wood shavings and some heat source like a heat lamp. Gently handle the chicks every once in a while so that they can become accustomed to humans.

The feed store can help you about what to feed your chicks. Once the chicks are about 30 days old they would start to feather and at this time they can be transferred to their coop which would be their permanent home.

The coop should have nesting boxes for the hens to lay their eggs and roosts where they would sleep. Chickens require about 8 to 10 square feet each and should be waterproof. They should also have a door large enough for humans to enter and small windows which can be opened or closed depending on the weather.

A fence in “yard” connected to the coop is also necessary so that the chickens can roam about without being threatened by predators like dogs, cats or raccoons. You can expect to start collecting the eggs after about 4 – 5 months from the date you purchase the chicks and once you reach this stage the only task left for you would be to feed the chickens, clean the coop and collect the delicious eggs.