Utility Bantams

[forest of dean redneck 11,694]

I know there's a lot of poultry keepers/fanciers on here,does anyone remember anyone keeping bantams for eggs etc

I'm sure they were in ww2 times,and sure the older generation kept banties a lot.

[Chicken_man 1,651]

The older breeds like light Sussex, Rhode island reds, leghorn, Scots dumpy etc maybe.

Atb

[forest of dean redneck 11,694]

Yeah,I was just wondering if I missed any,buff Plymouth and New Hampshire supposed to be good as well.

Though I seen pics of a welsummer bantam hen,and they looked good and supposed to lay well.

[darbo 4,776]

Add to that anconas.wyandotte,dorkings,orpingtons minorcas,faverolles.marans. i have read they were more popular in victorian times than even today . i like bantams require less space eat less than large fowl and have a greater yolk to white ratio. Both my grandparents kept them in the ww2 years but i dont know what breed or breeds.

Edited June 17, 2015 by darbo

[BIGLURKS 874]

We're the bantams the pheasant keepers choice for rearing birds back in the day

[forest of dean redneck 11,694]

Add to that anconas.wyandotte,dorkings,orpingtons minorcas,faverolles.marans. i have read they were more popular in victorian times than even today . i like bantams require less space eat less than large fowl and have a greater yolk to white ratio. Both my grandparents kept them in the ww2 years but i dont know what breed or breeds.

I like them for the same reasons lol

[Chicken_man 1,651]

Yes Biglurks,

Light Sussex x silkie types were preferred, or game hens.

Atb

[Chicken_man 1,651]

I used to have a few Rhode islands, and also a couple of Ancona. Great they were.

Atb

[darbo 4,776]

Just a example from the 60s

We're the bantams the pheasant keepers choice for rearing birds back in the day

Game rearing – 1963 style

Posted by David S.D. Jones on Friday, 28th of February 2014

 

THESE days, few shoots rear gamebirds on an in-house basis, preferring instead to purchase pheasant and partridge poults at the release stage from an accredited game farm, or, in some cases, to buy in chicks for rearing on.

This system not only ensures a constant supply of birds from closed flocks with genetically sound bloodlines and reduces mortality rates, but also proves very cost effective in terms of labour saving.

Half a century ago, in 1963, when many shoots were run for private pleasure rather than for commercial gain, game rearing was carried out in the traditional manner on all but the largest sporting properties. Most small or medium sized estates employed a single-handed gamekeeper at this time who was paid around £11 per week, supplied with a free house, fuel and transport, and was expected to rear around 1,000 pheasants annually.

More often than not, the single-handed gamekeeper on a small or medium sized estate reared his pheasants in a field adjacent to his cottage, feeding them either on homemade meal or proprietary mixes. In springtime he would collect pheasant eggs either from nests in the wild or from nests inside a large wired-in pheasantry and place them beneath broody hens in setting boxes for incubation purposes.

After the chicks were hatched, he would then move them to coops on the rearing field, leaving them with the hens until they were old enough to fend for themselves, prior to eventual release in woods and coverts. It was considered to be quite satisfactory in 1963 if 50-60 per cent of the chicks reared in this manner reached maturity!

On the more progressive estates, shoot owners used the Cotswold and Moveable Pen systems of pheasant rearing, which also involved the use of broody hens. However, some of the more ambitious sportsmen of the day, usually owners of large properties, purchased pheasant eggs from a game farm, hatched them out with an electric or a paraffin incubator, then transferred the chicks to a primitive brooder unit prior to release into the field at poult stage.

Pheasant eggs could be purchased from game farms at the rate of around £15 per 100 in 1963. Chicks were priced at 25/- (£1.15) per 100, poults at 15/- (75p) each, while adult birds were available at £1 per cock pheasant or £2-10/- (£2.50) per hen.

Feed prices at this time ranged from £2-12/- (£2.60) per 56lb sack of Cotswold V.H.P. Starter Food for brooder reared pheasants to £3-14/-6d (£3.72) for a 1cwt sack of Gilpa Winter Feed Mixture for pheasants.

Sadly, in 1963, little partridge preservation took place in the wild. The grey partridge was in severe decline at this time due to changing agricultural practices, in particular the increased use of pesticides and large scale hedge removal, and was very much left to its own devices on many sporting properties. Indeed, it had become so scarce in some areas that conservation conscious landowners imposed a shooting ban in order to ensure that the birds had some chance of survival.

Many shoots put down French or red-legged partridges either as an alternative quarry species to the grey partridge or to augment declining grey partridge stocks. On large properties it was not uncommon for gamekeepers to rear French partridges in-house.

However, shoot owners often purchased French partridges from suppliers such as the Cotswold Game Farm who supplied eggs for hatching out at the rate of 30/- (£1.50) per 100, chicks for £3 per 100, poults at £1 each, and adult birds at £3 per pair.

In addition to rearing pheasants and French partridges for shooting purposes, many landowners also reared wild ducks in 1963, purchasing eggs from game farms at the rate of £10 per 100 and incubating them using broody hens along the same lines as pheasants.

Messrs Gilbertson & Page, one of the leading game feed suppliers of the day, not only produced a special wild duck meal for this purpose, suitable for ‘nuturing ducklings from hatch to release,’ but also sold duck mash, duck crumbs and duck pellets for ducklings and adult ducks.

Some shoot owners also reared Bobwhite quail for sporting purposes in 1963. An American import, these birds could either be hatched out using broody hens or purchased individually from selected game farms at the rate of 12/-6d. (62½p) per poult. Interestingly, in Dorset and other south-western counties, the Bobtail quail managed to breed in the wild during good, dry seasons.

Game rearing was undoubtedly a much more labour intensive and time consuming business in 1963 than it is today, which kept gamekeepers busy for a considerable part of each year in order to produce high quality pheasants, French partridges and other gamebirds for stocking shoots.

 

 

[shepp 2,285]

I had some silver Sussex bantams, they were good layers.

[Chicken_man 1,651]

Thanks Darbo,

Interesting read :-)

Changed days now though eh?

Poults reared under broodys, were hardy, and feathered better than incubator/brooder reared birds.

There are one or two keepers still rear a few using broodys, but a rare thing these days. The numbers, and money game rules.

Atb

[BIGLURKS 874]

Thanks Darbo,

Interesting read :-)

Changed days now though eh?

Poults reared under broodys, were hardy, and feathered better than incubator/brooder reared birds.

There are one or two keepers still rear a few using broodys, but a rare thing these days. The numbers, and money game rules.

Atb

not heard any one doing it with broods in a long time can mind an old keeper I used too help out showing me the pens and boxes they used too use years ago he all ways swore they were better wild feeding smarter birds he said foxes got a lot less and they learned quicker too get up the trees and were 5x the better flyers

[Tuzo 251]

Fred Hams created a commercial utility bantam.....the Chaucer Gold. It has NHR in it but I can't remember what else....

[forest of dean redneck 11,694]

Fred Hams created a commercial utility bantam.....the Chaucer Gold. It has NHR in it but I can't remember what else....

I read about that,didn't he get ill,and his stock,split and sold off?

[shepp 2,285]

I bet with a bit of clever marketing, a good living could be made producing a productive bantam for suburban middle class, back garden chicken keepers.