Booted Bantam

The Booted Bantam, also called the Dutch Booted Bantam and the Sablepoot, is a bantam breed of chicken. Its name is derived from the bird's extravagant feathering on the feet and hock joints, which are called vulture hocks or "sabels" in Dutch. With no large fowl counterpart from which it was miniaturized, the Booted is one of the true bantams. Males usually weigh in at around 850 grams (30 ounces) and females 750 grams (27 ounces). American standards dictate a smaller ideal size of 740 grams (26 ounces) for males, and 625 (22 ounces) for females.

Characteristics

Booted Bantams are angular birds with profuse plumage. They have broad backs, breasts carried well forward, and relatively large, downward-pointing wings following the line of the vulture hocks. They do not quite reach the floor though. Booted Bantams have a single upright comb with five points, horn-colored beaks, red wattles, and red earlobes. Almost exclusively an exhibition chicken raised by poultry fanciers, they appear in more than a twenty colour varieties. Colours accepted in shows include: Barred, Black, Blue, Buff, Cuckoo, Columbian, Gray, Golden Neck, Millefleur (the most common), Mottled, Partridge, Lavender, Lemon Millefleur, Porcelain, Self Blue, Silver Millefleur and White.