What is the difference between a bantam chicken and other breeds?
A bantam is a small variety of poultry, especially chickens. The name bantam is derived from the city of Bantam, once a major seaport in Indonesia. European sailors restocking on live fowl for sea journeys found the small native breeds of chicken in Southeast Asia to be useful, and any such small poultry came to be known as a bantam. Most large chicken breeds have a bantam counterpart, sometimes referred to as a miniature. Miniatures are usually one-fifth to one-quarter the size of the standard breed, but they are expected to exhibit all of the standard breed’s characteristics. A true bantam has no large counterpart, and is naturally small.
