Widney High School Valley Branch - Valiant Yearbook (North Hollywood, CA)

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sk, MY BANTAME By Patricia Erickson On my twelfth birthday, I was given a trio of Jungle Fowl Bantams Ccom on stock, from which I sold hatching eggs. I received five cents per egg and thirty-five cents for little bantam chicks. At the end of two years I had saved twenty dollars in net profit from my original bantams. In 1950, Dad took me to the San Fernando Valley Fair and got me interested in show stock bantams. He said it would not cost any more to feed and care for show stock than it did for the common stock. He also told me my biggest expense would be in purchas- ing my foundation stock. However, in time the returns from this stock would be considerably more than I had been receiving in the past with my present stock. Therefore, I took fifteen dollars from my savings and purchased a trio of Mille Fleur Bearded Bantams. The Mille Fleur Bearded Bantams, an ornamental variety, origina- ted in Asia from a pair of one-time long-tailed Yokahama and an impor- ted white Burmese bantam. In 1887, the offspring from this pair were sold into Germany where they were known under the name of Gold Porce- lains. They were very popular in Germany, England and Belgium. The name Mille Fleur CThousand Flowersl was adopted by the Belgian Spe- cialty Club. They were introduced to the United States in 1911 and were admitted to the standard breed in l9lh. They have proven to be a very popular addition to the bantam fanciers. From my first trio of Mille Fleur Bearded Bantams, I have builti my flock to approximately seven dozen show stock birds. In addition, I now have also two other breeds of show stock bantams, the Black Rosecombs and the Buff Cochins. The Black Rosecombs appeared in Eng- land in the middle of the l800's. They are a distinctly proud and stylish type, and are known as the aristocrats of the bantam world. The Buff Cochins have long been a favorite breed in North America, due chiefly to their gentle dispositions. My Buff Cochin hen won first prize at the San Fernando Valley Fair in 1953. Altogether, I have won twenty-one ribbons in showing my bantams in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles County Fairs. R7