A large, black-and-white-speckled bird named Birdie pecked at the ground, while a tiny, shiny bantam rooster the color of dark wood puffed himself up. He then let out a piercing crow.

A photo of Squiggy -- a bantam rooster being cared for at the Funny Farm Rescue in Mays Landing, New Jersey. He's been missing since Tuesday, November 8.

Peter William Smith, 57, picked up a silky bantam chicken named Betty White from its enclosure at Oakvale Wildlife Park in Salt Ash, in NSW Hunter region on January 2.

There are seven chickens but only three boxes. What do the hens do? They take turns." Six of them do, at any rate, but Tillie, an audacious white bantam, will not.

The winner of the Rooster Crowing Contest went to contestant No. 3, a Modern Game bantam rooster who trounced the dozen competitors by emitting 23 crows even though he weighs barely a pound.

Amrock Barred Bantam roosters lay large eggs despite their size and known for their calm posture with patterned feathers (left) while White Crested Black Polish Bantams are of Polish origin ...

Backyard chickens are on the rise in Sydney. Selena Griffith with her daughter, Amelie,10, and Bill the bantam rooster. Credit: Peter Rae ...