Booted Bantam

Did You Know?

• Eleazar Albin's 1738 description states these birds originally came from 'Bantam in India'.
• The bearded and feather-footed Barbu d'Uccle was created in the early twentieth century by cross-breeding Booted Bantams with Barbu d'Anvers stock.

History

Feather-footed bantams have been known in Europe for centuries, with images appearing in the work of Ulisse Aldrovandi and Aelbert Cuyp during the 1600s, and later in the 1700s by Eleazar Albin. In 1738, Albin described the bantam cock as having long stiff feathers growing from the thighs that extended two inches past the knees, which were called boots, and legs feathered down to the toes. He noted the hen was similarly booted and feathered to the toes, like all true bantam kind, and stated these birds originally came from Bantam in India.

These birds were absent from the first British poultry standard in 1865, but William Tegetmeier covered them in detail in his 1867 book, noting a pure white variety had recently been exhibited. Both white and black varieties were likely bred in the UK, with the black type recorded as early as 1841 when William Flamank Entwisle received a pair as a gift. By 1836, the birds were in the United States, being bred in Massachusetts. The white variant entered the American Standard of Excellence in 1876 and the American Standard of Perfection in 1879. The Booted Bantam Society UK was established in 2014.

Characteristics

The Booted Bantam has a short compact body, short in the back and with the breast carried well forward; the upper line of the neck, back and tail has a pronounced U-shape. The legs have well-developed vulture hocks, long stiff feathers pointing down from the backs of the thighs and almost reaching the ground; the shanks and feet are heavily feathered, particularly on the outer side. There are four toes. The wings are long and large, and point downwards at about the same angle as the vulture hocks.

The comb is single and upright, with five to seven points; the earlobes and wattles are red. The colour of the beak varies according to the plumage. The Entente Européenne lists thirty-three colour variants, of which twenty-six are recognised at European level. Eleven colours were listed by the Poultry Club of Great Britain in the sixth (2008) edition of the British Poultry Standards: black, black mottled, blue, buff mottled, cuckoo, gold millefleur, lavender, lemon millefleur, millefleur, porcelain, silver millefleur and white.

The number was increased to fourteen in the seventh (2018) edition of the standards. The American Poultry Association list five variants: black, millefleur, porcelain, self-blue and white.