Barbu d’Anvers Bantam

     The Barbu d’Anvers is a breed of rare bantam Chickens from Belgium. It is a true Bantam, and always rose-combed and clean legged. Formerly, it’s known as the Antwerp Belgian, the Belgian Bearded d’Anvers, or the Quail Bantam.

     As its name implies, the Barbu d’Anvers has a profuse beard of feathers, that covers its small earlobes, and small or nonexistent wattles. Also, a lot of color-varieties of plumage are recognized for this bird around the world, with the quail color-variety as the most common, upon which it got one of its common names as well. The Barbu d’Anvers is a purely ornamental bird, kept either as a pet or by poultry fanciers for showing.

     Antwerp Belgian hens are very friendly to humans; however, roosters may be a little bit aggressive. The hems lay small creamy-white eggs (around 100 eggs per year) of weight less than 35 g per each. Antwerp Belgian hens are good mothers indeed, and good sitters too.

     The Barbu d’Anvers is quite similar in appearance to the closely related Barbu de Watermael, but the latter species mainly difers in having a head crest. There is also a tailless variety of the Barbu d’Anvers called the ‘Barbu de Grubbe’, which comes with the same aspects and standards.