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The Dutch Bantam is a breed of bantam chicken originating in the Netherlands. It is a true bantam, a naturally small bird with no related large fowl from which it was miniaturized. It is kept mainly for exhibition, and has been bred in many colour varieties. It is a good layer of small eggs.
The Dutch Bantam was first imported to Australia in the importations conducted from 2014 to 2016 by Avgen. It was imported in the Gold Partridge Colour but Yellow Partridge birds were also bred from the stock in Australia. It was included in the Addendum to the Australian Poultry Standards which was published in 2016.
Dutch Bantams are among the smallest breeds of true bantam and are the lightest breed standardised in Australia. Due to their light weight and relatively large wings, Dutch Bantams fly rather well. The original type of plumage for Dutch Bantams was a partridge pattern. Twenty-nine colour varieties are recognised by the Dutch association. In Australia Gold and Yellow Partridge birds are bred and fanciers are creating new colours. All varieties should have a comb with 5 points, white earlobes, slate blue legs, apart from certain varieties and white skin.
The breed is friendly in temperament, but somewhat flighty. Their small size and comb type makes them not especially cold hardy. Dutch Bantam hens make good mothers and will easily go broody. Uniquely for bantams, and especially ones popular in showing, Dutch Bantams lay well; they can produce 160 cream or white eggs in a year, though the size of the egg is much smaller than commercial layers.
Due to their friendly character and egg laying ability, the breed is well suited to hobbyists and backyard keepers needing a bantam-sized bird.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
THE MALE
Carriage an upright posture without the body itself giving the impression of leaning backwards.
Body: stocky, broad, tapering towards the rear
Head: relatively small, not pointed and not bulbous; face bright red, covered quite sparsely with hair-like feathers.
Comb: Single, quite small, regularly serrated, 5 comb points, straight and upright, fine, bright red, the comb heel does not follow the curve of the neck, but rises slightly backwards.
Wattles: Medium in size, quite large and not pendulous, beautifully rounded, of equal length, bright red.
Beak: Fairly short, strong, slightly curved at the tip, dark or light horn-colored depending on the colour of the plumage.
Ear Lobes: Relatively small, flat, not thick and not glazed, pure white, even at the edges; elongated round to almond shaped.
Eyes: Quite large, lively in expression, orange-red to brown-red.
Neck: Fairly short, beautifully curved back, thinning upwards, with richly developed hackles, reaching to the back and shoulders and enclosing the neck as much as possible from the front.
Back and Saddle: Very short, slightly descending to the rear and in a short, concave line rising to the tail without a sharp or angular transition: saddle short, broad and spacious with fairly long saddle feathers, which fit nicely with the tail coverts.
Breast: Carried high and strongly forward, full, broad, beautifully rounded.
Shoulders: Wide.
Tail: Erect and somewhat high (but not upright and straight) and carried spread out, relatively large, fully feathered, with well-curved and beautifully developed sickle feathers and well-developed tail coverts. The tail feathers must be well spread.
Wings: Relatively large and long but not too pointed at the end, slanting backwards downwards without touching the ground, well drawn to the body, so that the wing tips are close to each other under the body.
Abdomen: Closed with moderate down development, hiding under the wings.
Thighs: Short, well spaced and, seen from the front, almost parallel to each other.
Legs and Toes: Legs rather short, without feathering, with 4 well-spread medium-length toes; darker or lighter slate blue, depending on the feather color. With well-developed spurs.
Plumage: Fully developed with rich ornamental feathering, but slightly tight down.
THE FEMALE
The characteristics of the female similar to that of the male allowing for sexual differences. The wings carried down to a lesser extent, also well drawn to the body, as in the male. Tail erect somewhat high (but not upright and straight) and carried spread out, relatively large, fully feathered. The tail feathers must be well spread.
COLOUR
COLOUR
The colours recognised in Australia are Gold Partridge and Yellow Partridge.
GOLD PARTRIDGE:
GOLD PARTRIDGE:
THE MALE
HEAD: Plumage, orange red-brown.
NECK: Hackle, lustrous greenish black centre strip, with outer colour of orange extending around point of feather. Hackle graduating from rich orange through to pale yellowish orange.
WING: Wing bow: black; wing bar: lustrous greenish black; wing bay: chestnut brown. Primaries, inner web: black; Lower (outer) edges chesnut brown and each feather terminating with greenish black at the tip. Secondaries, innter web: black; Lower (outer) edges chestnut brown and each feather termianting with greenish black at the tip. When wing closed the secondaries form a chestnut brown bay.
BACK AND SADDLE: A deep shade of reddish brown. Saddle to correspond with hackle.
TAIL: Main-tail feathers, black; sickles and lesser sickles, lustrous greenish black; coverts, lustrous, greenish black, those near the side-hangers having a brownish tinge under the tip.
BREAST: Lustrous greenish black.
BODY AND FLUFF: Body, black; fluff, black, slightly tinged with grey.
THIGH: Lower thighs, black.
UNDERCOLOUR OF ALL SECTIONS: Slate grey.
LEGS AND TOES: Slate blue.
EARLOBES: White
BEAK: Dark horn or blue
THE FEMALE
HEAD: Plumage, deep, golden brown.
NECK: Golden yellow; center portion of feathers black forming a strip which doesn't go through the tip; plumage greyish white at the throat.
WINGS: Fronts, bows, and coverts, greyish brown with fine black peppering, free of rust or other defects.
BACK: Greyish brown with fine black peppering, free of red discolouration.
TAIL: Main-tail feathers, blackish, with the two top feathers having some brown peppering.
BREAST: Salmon breasted shading to brownish grey near the thigh.
UNDERCOLOUR: Ashy grey.
LEGS AND TOES: Slate blue.
EARLOBES: White
BEAK: Dark horn or blue
YELLOW PARTRIDGE
YELLOW PARTRIDGE
THE MALE
Head: Deep yellow straw colour.
Neck hackle pale straw-yellow, a greenish-black stripe down centre of each.
Back rich gold/orange. Saddle hackle matching the neck hackle, at times a little darker.
Breast Perfect black free from spots and having a glossy green sheen.
Wing bow black.
Shoulders rich gold/orange.
Wing bar Glossy greenish black; primaries: black; inner web: black; wing tip: black; outer web: very pale yellow straw; wing bay: very pale yellow straw to creamy when tucked.
Thighs Unblemished rich black tinged with glossy green. ]
Belly: black.
Tail Main tail and coverts a black tinged with glossy green. Some coverts near the side hangers having a pale yellow edge underneath the tips.
Underfluff: grey.
THE FEMALE
Head Yellow with a tendency to grey shadings.
Throat creamy lemonish white.
Neck hackle straw-yellow, each feather having a centre black stripe.
Wing, back saddle and tail coverts even ashy straw yellow, free from red rust but with fine black peppering.
Tail black, some with yellow speckling.
Breast salmon-yellow fading to ashy yellow undercolour.
Thighs ashy-yellow with speckling.
Both Partridge Varieties
Males with a clear neck and more or less clear saddle markings are preferred. There must be a clear difference in neck color and ground color between partridge and yellow partridge. Quite a few hens show pale heads. Here, the allocation of points must be taken into account.
In the Yellow Partridge variety pay attention to too much brown in the wing triangle of the cocks and too much lemon colored necks in both the cocks and hens.
WEIGHTS
WEIGHTS
Male birds 500 - 550 grams
Female birds 400 - 450 grams.
DEFECTS
DEFECTS
Defects as per: http://www.dutchbantams.australianpoultry.com.au/breed-standard/
Long narrow build
Carriage too sloping
Large, glossy white or red lobes
White in face
Wrong coloured legs or eyes
Whipped tail
SOURCES
SOURCES
Dutch Bantam page on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Bantam accessed 7 October 2019
HollandseKriel.nl
The American standard of perfection, illustrated. A complete description of recognized varieties of fowls, as revised by [the Association at its 62d-67th annual meetings, 1937-42.] Public Domain accessed from: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009169004
Australian Poultry Standards Addendum 2016
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