Category: Fancy Breed Chickens

Japanese

Posted on by Cindy Johnson
Japanese

 

 Japanese

 

 

These are bantams that originated in Vietnam but the Japanese adopted the birds for their gardens.  The are also  popular in Malaysia and Indonesia. 

They have short legs, a large comb, and a tall upright set of tail feathers.  They are good foragers and have no problem feeding themselves if given enough acreage. 

They  are very tame birds and will live as long as thirteen years if taken care of.

They are a true bantam with colors ranging from black, black-red mottled, white, and grey. 

Roosters will weigh just over a pound and hens a little less.  The hens lay white eggs.

 

 

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Indian Game

Posted on by Cindy Johnson

Indian Game

Indian Game

 

  Originating from Cornwall England the Indian Game is  also known as Cornish Game.  They are stocky birds bred for meat production rather than eggs.   They will lay between 160 and 180 eggs per year.     As their feathers are fairly light they need winter protection.  They can be fairly aggressive birds but are fairly easy to handle.  They are also susceptible to parasites and require frequent worming and delousing.  

 

Varieties are Dark Indian (black with green, bay, or chestnut), Jubilee Indian (chestnut brown with white splotches), and Doubled Laced (blue and brown shades).
Roosters will weight almost five pounds, hens between three and four pounds.  The hens lay brown eggs.

There are bantam varieties as well.   The birds were bred from Asian game fowl  and English game fowl in an effort to produce a superior fighting chicken but instead the got a superior meat bird.

 

 

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Houdan

Posted on by Cindy Johnson

Houdan

 

 

Houdan

Originating from the village of Houdan France, the Houdan has five toes, a beard, muffs, and a weird butterfly shaped comb with crests and feather bearding hiding the small earlobes and butterfly comb.   They are glossy green black with white mottled patches.    They appeared in the 1860’s and 70’s in the U.S., in Briton in the 1850’s.   The birds came from the Crevecceur, the Polish, and the Dorking.  The Houdans have five toes instead of the usual four toes, evidence of the Dorking bloodline.  

There are two main varieties, white and black with white spotting.    While they were bred for dual purpose laying and as meat birds they are mostly an ornamental breed these days.    They retain their good genetics, mature quickly, and lay a good number of eggs per year, so they are still used in backyard flocks.  

Roosters will weight over six pounds, hens around five pounds.  There are bantam varieties as well.  The hens lay white eggs.

 

 

 

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Hamburg/Hamburgh

Posted on by Cindy Johnson

Hamburg/Hamburgh

 

Hamburg/Hamburgh

Originating in the Netherlands around the 14th century,  the Hamburg chicken  is small but very good layers, up to 220 small eggs per year.  They mature quickly and have excellent feed to egg conversion ratio.  There are around ten varietes of Hamburgs including the silver spangled and gold spangled types.  They tend to be nervous birds and while ornamental in nature they are good foragers.   the silver and golden spangled variety. The Hamburg display a high tendency to be nervous around people. Though ornamental in nature, the Hamburg is an efficient forager.

Colors can be black with a greenish sheen, penciled colors with white ear lobes,  silver spangled, golden penciled, silver penciled, golden spangled, black,  and white.   They mature

Rooster will weight around five pounds, hens around four pounds.  There are also bantam varieties.  The hens lay white eggs.

 

 

 

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Frizzle

Posted on by Cindy Johnson

Frizzle

 

 

Frizzle
The Frizzle is of Asian descent and is a purely exhibition breed, actually more of a variation of a breed than a breed on its own. It is docile, and can be hardy and suitable for free range or poorly mobile and require confinement.   Some varieties are not  good layers, others are excellent layers. The plumage of the Frizzle gives the breed its name as it curls tightly backwards towards the head.

There is actually  a gene responsible for the frizzled feathers and it shows up in several breeds.

Their are bantam and larger varieties.  Blue, black, buff, or white are the normal colors. 

Bantam type roosters weigh about a pound and a half, hens about one and a quarter pounds.   Standard frizzle roosters will weight as much as seven pounds and hens five pounds.  The hens lay light brown eggs.

As the gene is responsible for the frizzled feathers you really can’t lay out exact characteristics as the frizzled feathers is the only real determining factor.  Generally the actual breed of the bird will have more to do with the characteristics of the individual bird.

 

 

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Faverolles

Posted on by Cindy Johnson

Faverolles

 

Faverolles

 Faverolles were developed in North Central France in the 1860’s as ornamental birds.

Faverolles are friendly birds and very god layers.  There are two varieties, Ermine and Salmon colored.  They are a heavy breed of bird, have feathered feet, beards, muffs, leg feathering, and five toes per foot.   They do well in coops or free range, they even do well in battery cages as they are excellent layers and tolerate confinement.  Mostly kept as ornamental birds they were bred for dual purpose use and have good laying abilities and good meat carcasses.  The hens lay well in winter and put out medium sized pinkish or light brown eggs. 

The roosters are fairly quiet and the birds are known for being very docile to the point where they will get bullied in mixed flocks.   They make good pets for this very reason.      As a dual purpose breed they lay well and produce meat birds efficiently.  .

There are several varieties, black, laced, blue, buff, cuckoo (bluish white barred, or irregular light and dark barred), salmon, and ermine.

Roosters will weight eight pounds, hens seven pounds.  The hens lay light brown eggs, around 240 eggs per year.

 

 

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Dorking

Posted on by Cindy Johnson

Dorking

Dorking

Originating in Britain the Dorking is a very unusual chicken.  Some say the bird dates back to the time of the Roman invasion of Britain.  The bird is a good meat bird and layer and it is one of the few breeds that have five toes instead of the normal four toes.    They have stocky bodies, short legs, are good mothers, but due to large combs they require winter shelter. 

A dual purpose breed that produces plenty of eggs and a good meat carcass, dorkings are one of the few breeds with red earlobes that also produce a white shelled egg.  There are five varieties;  white, silver-grey, red, dark,, and cuckoo.  The roosters weight around two and a half pounds, the hens around two pounds.

 

 

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