Bantams (miniature chickens) can be bred to lay blue, green, and even olive eggs, just like their full size cousins! A few hatcheries are offering female blue laying bantam Ameraucanas and finally some sage and olive egger bantams. The rainbow miniature chicken egg basket of your dreams is now doable! Here is how you can breed bantam colored egg layer chicks:
How to Breed Bantam Colored Egg Layer Chickens
The chicken world is absolutely in love with blue, green, olive, and chocolate egg laying hens. Breeding these colored egg genes into bantams has taken years but hatcheries have only recently begun offering guaranteed pullets who lay a colored egg.
Please Note: Colored Egg Laying Bantams are experiencing incredibly high demand. You will need to contact the hatchery directly and anticipate a wait for chicks.
A Profitable Breeding Project
Bantam hens are beloved because of their small size and quieter noises. Suburban families find these chickens easier to hide from street view in a smaller sized coop and it is no secret that everyone wants blue and green eggs! Hatchery prices for colored egg laying bantams are incredibly high, which means breeding them yourself for sale locally could be quite profitable.
Where Do I Get Bantam Colored Egg Laying Chicks?
My article on hatchery colored egg layers gives a full list of hatcheries offering bantam colored egg layers (scroll to the bottom of the article to the Bantam section). Below I’ll share the bantam breeds & hybrids I feel would be most beneficial if you are looking to start breeding them:
Guaranteed Blue Egg Layers are a Must
All colored egg breeding projects begin with birds carrying the blue egg gene. This is where I would suggest investing the most to ensure you get a large enough flock all carrying at least one copy of the dominant blue egg gene. My recommendation would be to purchase Splash Ameraucana Bantams who will lay blue eggs. Since they are now a purebred, added in 2022 to the Standard of Perfection by the American Bantam Association, I would suggest purchasing a pair of roosters of this breed as well. You could have a profitable side hustle selling only this breed of blue egg laying bantam if you wished!
Buy Splash Ameraucana Bantams: Meyer Hatchery, My Pet Chicken
Easter Egger Bantams
Bantams in a rainbow of feather colors who lay a variety of pastel eggs are lovely! Backyard keepers want them and they are easy to breed. A Splash Ameraucana Bantam rooster can fertilize the Easter Egger bantam hens to produce offspring who lay blue and green eggs. The splash bantam roo should be homozygous for the blue egg gene. When mated to the Easter Egger hens, he should produce blue laying offspring if the chick hatches from a blue egg and green laying offspring if the chick hatches from a green or brown egg.
Links to Hatcheries Offering Colored Egg Laying Bantam Chicks:
Easter Egger Bantams: Meyer Hatchery, My Pet Chicken, Cackle Hatchery, Ideal Poultry, Murray McMurray (read reviews – these birds lay blue & green eggs and sometimes brown; not all hatcheries offer sexed females)
Unique Easter Egger Bantams: Green Queen Easter Egger Bantam, Blue Sex-Linked Female Easter Egger Bantam, Steele Egger Bantam, Green Queen Bantam, Blue feathered Sex Link Easter Egger
Wait, Explain How to Breed the Easter Egger Bantams?
If you have purchased a purebred Bantam Splash Ameraucana rooster, he should be homozygous for the blue egg gene, which means he is carrying two copies of the dominant blue egg gene and will always pass on a copy to his offspring. It is not possible for him to produce brown laying bantam hens if he has 2 copies of the blue egg gene. Here are the egg colors the offspring are expected to lay if you breed a Splash Ameraucana bantam roo to different colored egg laying bantam hens:
Olive Egger Bantams
The recipe for breeding an olive egger hen of any size is to breed a blue egg gene individual to a dark egg gene individual. Bantam sized dark chocolate egg layers are not currently available from any of the hatcheries. Welsummer bantams are available, but reviews have mentioned the eggs are plain brown, not chocolate. Black-Red Marans Bantams (which are like bantam Black Copper Marans) are a recognized variety in the UK who lay brown eggs but are hard to find in the United States. The Sage Gem bantam hybrids who already produce sage, light olive, and brown eggs may be a great way to jump-start your bantam olive egger breeding project!
Sage & Olive Green Laying Bantams: Sage Gem
How Do I Breed More Olive Egger Bantams?
If you want to breed olive egger bantams, like the Sage Gem birds together, you could expect more green, sage, and light olive layers. Some offspring may lay eggs slightly darker than their mothers but it depends on the genes the rooster is carrying. If you want olive eggs, you must use a rooster with a pea comb. This may mean you purchase 3-4 different males and only use the one who has a pea comb and a feather color you like.
Protecting Your Valuable Breeding Flock
Bantams need extra secure predator-proof coops to keep the little hens safe. This is especially important since some hens like to sleep on the floor of the coop. I strongly suggest using 1/2 inch hardware cloth (19 gauge) and never chicken wire when building bantam coops. Hardware cloth helps keep snakes out.
Is It Possible to Breed Sex-Link Bantam Colored egg Layers?
YES IT IS! Bantam chicks are small and notoriously difficult to sex. But with a bit of genetic know-how, you can breed sex-link bantams who will lay colored eggs for you! This will generally require purchasing a large number of bantams, especially if they come straight run and you are not fully guaranteed a certain feather color. My PDF eBook on breeding sex-linked colored egg layers is based on feather color and works for both standard sized and bantam chickens:
More Bantam Hen Varieties
If you’re interested in breeding sex-link bantams and have already read our breeding guide, you may find the feather selection at Valley Hatchery, Cackle Hatchery and Meyer Hatchery very useful! Specialty breeders in the US offer Bantam Faverolles and colored egg layers.
Bantams on the Rise
As the cost to raise chicks continues to climb, many backyard keepers are finding it more economical to let broody bantam hens raise their purchased chicks. Bantam mothers are attentive, protective, and teach their chicks to forage well. If the cost of buying an incubator (now nearly $200), brooder bedding, chick warming plate, and brooder supplies continues to increase, chicken keepers may be tempted to turn to bantams for help raising the next generation.
Breeding Bantam Colored Egg Layers is Possible!
Backyard chicken keepers want these diminutive sweethearts and if she lays a colored egg, all the better! If you’re in love with bantams and are considering having a flock who would pay for itself, there will always be demand for these colorful egg laying darlings.
Keep Reading to Learn More:
All About Bantam (Miniature) Chickens
How to Breed Sex-Link Chicks (Standard Size or Bantam!)
How to Breed Colored Egg Layers
Easter Egger Egg Shell Color Genetics
How to Breed for Muffs & a Beard (get more fluffy faced chicks)
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