"If everyone kept a few banties in their backyard, there would be no wars."
There are any number of reasons to keep poultry. Many folks would immediately tell you that it's for the eggs.... The Society for the Preservation of Poultry Antiquities also has some irrefutable points. Reasons to keep banties in particular include their personality, their versatility and their beauty. You can often have two or three banty hens for bug patrol in your urban yard when the same number of standard-sized hens would outrage your neighbors. Careful choice of breed can also help with that issue; Polish chickens don't look like colouring book chickens at all and thereby become conversation pieces---not "livestock". The coloured eggs that Aracaunas lay fascinate most people and help to keep them from focusing on the fact that there are chickens just over the fence. Sometimes offering to share eggs or the litter from the doghouse...er, chickenhouse where the little folk sleep for use on a neighbor's garden will help to convince the folks living near you that this is not an invasion of bucolia.
Do check with your local city or county statutes (available at your City Hall or County Courthouse) before you bring any birds home. Most places will allow you to keep up to a certain number or birds, or may restrict poultry keeping to only hens.
The difference between keeping standard sized chickens and keeping banties is like the difference between keeping cats and keeping dogs....banties are more like cats. They just seem to come with a larger sense of self, a higher expectation of being able to manipulate their immediate environment than standard chickens do---no matter what breed of bantams they are. Our birds are raised to be entirely social; they live with cats, dogs, kids (both two-legged and four-legged) and adult humans. They come when they are called, usually by name. They love to listen to National Public Radio, commenting between themselves on the program.....wish I spoke the language better!
