Okay, you see my science teacher assingned us a progect. we are rasing chicks. We have to identify the breed it is. I belive it is a black-tailed white japanese Bantam. He has clean short legs, he caries his wings low, and already has the biggest tail of most of the chicks! He will not stand up and is scared to death of me! He is Yellow and is getting black feathers. My question is is my hypothisis corect? Is Clyde (my chick) a black-tailed white japanese bantam?

Is the tail straight upright? Also what do you mean by he will not stand up? Apart from that he does sound like a japanese and he also sounds like he needs some tameing,
Hope this helps,
Bantamluver

Okay so far he holds his tail pretty strait up. Oh, he is gonna get use to handling he gets handled like 4 times a week. What I mean by he will not stand up is he kinda waddles it is so cute! He will not stand as tall as the other chick. Plus, is it right they can be yellow as babys? Thanks for replying!

He sounds a lot like a Japanese to me. I have two blue japanese hens and they are sooo cute!!! It's good that he is handled because they can be great pets. I think that black tailed white can be yellow as chicks but i'm not sure. Hope this helps,
Bantamluver

Earl R, there are some pics of japanese chicks at feathersite.com Those may be helpful to you. Yes on black tailed whites being yellow as chicks, wings pointing back at an angle almost dragging the ground, and the waddle sounds like a jap to me :)
Best wishes ~ Christina

I know he is a Black-tailed white Japanese Bantam all I need now is some good websites. Do you know any.
Thanks!

http://www.feathersite.com is a really good one!
Bantamluver

Hello....I purchased a rooster and hen Japanese bantams last summer. We gave them fresh water daily, a mixture of laying mash with a small amount of scratch, left over veggies and heat in the winter. (We live in a horticultural zone 3-4 so it can get cold in the winter.) Sadly our rooster (Harold) died for no apparent reason. He was healthy the day before and was found dead the next morning. The hen (Molly) seems to be fine.
We are worried that she may suddenly die too or she will die of loneliness. We can't get another silky for a couple of months and northern Ontario is not known for its abundance of breeders.
What should we do? If you know what might of happened to Harold,.... maybe give us a clue.

May sound weird, but if she was my only bantam, I would probably treat her as a "cage bird" pet and keep her in my house. A large cage, cedar shavings with a good cage edging to keep her from scratching them all out, a roost, nest box, if she is laying--and feeders and waterer, hanging on the sides. You will have to change shavings a least once a week (no more bother than a cat-box), and keep feathers picked out. She won't die of loneliness, that is a "people" diagnosis. But she will like attention. Start inquiring for a new rooster for spring. And if you are feeding scratch, are you also offering Grit, also oystershell? Sorry about Harold, but he probably only LOOKED healthy, as our birds do not tell show us or tell us where it hurts. Without necropsy, it is not possible to say why he suddenly died. There are a number of things that lead to sudden death without symptoms. Molly may be just fine--I hope so! CJR

Looking for anyone that raises the japanese bantams in Texas THANKS, EARL