Poultry Breeds, Bassette Bantam, Keeping Chickens

Posted on 29 April 2010

This bird originates from Belgium at the 20th century and was used by rural farms as a surrogate incubator bird for rearing pheasants and partridges.
The Bassette is a superb Bantam for anyone who has limited space as they do not need the wide range of space other Bantams need and they are good layers.
They have a tendency to be broody only in late spring and are generally OK the rest of the year so in Spring, clear the eggs every day. They are very placid so make a good starter bantam if you are a new comer to these birds.
Although this site is aimed at a UK audience – here is some useful info from the USA about the Bantam:
The Bassett Bantam is not really a breed of Bantams. The name Basset refers to Bob Bassett of Florida who served as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Dutch Bantam Society, which was only created in 1986.
The Basset Bantams are the nicknames for successful Dutch bantams that have made it through the United States and Canada and established themselves as a successful hobby crop of birds. Bob Bassetts and his partners in crime such as Mr. Jack Fuage of Tennessee who was the President Pro-Tem for the group envisioned this “takeover” of Bantams.
The American Dutch Bantam society that originated the movement of these Basset Bantams through American farms first only consisted of forty members. They were simply well respected hobbyists that bred all kinds of different types of chickens in the fancy end of the business who were supportive and interested in bringing new breeds to North America. Of the forty charter members in the American Dutch Bantam society only just a few considered themselves to be true or represented breeders in the area of Dutch Bantam breeding. However in the last decade most of the membership of the Bob Bassett’s original Dutch club consists only exclusively of specific Dutch breeders who are interested in creating active progeny and promoting all Bantam breeds for all of their different purposes including large scale egg production, meat eating and exhibition purposes.
Before the existence of a club for Bantams like this was completely established in the United States they were only a general description. This is called the Basset description and simply referred to the birds as being nothing else but “black breasted reds.” And “blue breasts reds.”
This was a very general description that was in need of refinement and correction. In 1987 a meeting was held in Dalton Georgia to elaborate on the Bob Bassett’s original description of Bantams. The purpose of the vent was to establish a color description clarification that included the light brown bantams and blue light brown birds that are also in the category of Bantam birds. This meeting did establish a standard description that is now used to define the many different types of Bantams that now appear in North America regularly. Documentation of this amendment appeared in the fall issue of the American Bantam Quarterly Bulletin on pages 14 and 15.
The ADBS has also held several other club events that are of significant historical interest as they are concerned with correct naming and categorizing of Bantam chickens in America. For instance in October of 1991, which is not so long ago, Light Brown and Sliver varieties of Bantam chickens were added to the Standards of Perfection of the APA. An APA qualifying meet was held in Tucson, Arizona in 1993 for the inclusion of the Blue Light Brown variety to be added to the Standard of Perfection. This, the third variety of Dutch to be added to the standard of APA was completed by a vote of the Board in February of 1994.
Another important function of this organization is that it also organized the picturing of these Bob Bassett Bantams to be painted as portraits. In 1992 and 1993, the famous poultry artist Mr. Aaron Hamilton of New Mexico immortalized all of the varieties of Bantams including the newer Light Brown, Silver and Blue Light Brown breeds. Separate paintings were done for the male and female of each of these varieties to give the growing group Bantam bird lovers in America a better vision of what the actual bird standards for Bantams actually are as they originated in the Netherlands.
Though the American Dutch Bantam Society is a very young and growing group of members, their short time in existence has led to some eventful accomplishments including a club insignia.

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Category: Chickens for Sale, Choosing Chicken Breeds, Keeping Chickens, Poultry Breeds
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1 Response to Poultry Breeds, Bassette Bantam, Keeping Chickens

  • school grants says:
    May 8, 2010 at 9:12 am

    This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I enjoy seeing websites that understand the value of providing a prime resource for free. I truly loved reading your post. Thanks!

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