CHICKEN TALK | Guest blog by Hans Krudde: One chicken is not like the other!
These Bankiva chickens were domesticated about 6000 years ago in Pakistan and India. Through wars, crusades, and trade journeys, these domesticated chickens gradually spread across the world. Initially, they were gifts to nobles and other dignitaries, but gradually the chickens also became available to the common people.
Chicken talk
16 March '23 • 1 min reading time
Useful or just beautiful?
Through selection and crossbreeding, more and more variation emerged, and breeds were created. Additionally, the chickens adapted to the climate of the region and/or to the preferences of the people from that area. Sometimes this was mainly about physical characteristics that were considered beautiful; the emergence of ornamental breeds. In other cases, it was primarily about utility traits such as egg production and muscle development (meat, that is). These utility breeds became popular after the agricultural crisis at the end of the 19th century when many European farmers switched to poultry. Between 1850 and 1925, most of the ornamental and utility breeds we know today were developed. The utility breeds can be further divided into laying breeds, meat breeds, and a combination of both; the dual-purpose breeds. The ornamental breeds can be divided into large fowl and bantams, or dwarf breeds. We have bantam breeds that occur exclusively in the dwarf form, such as the Dutch Sabelpoot bantam, and bantam breeds that have been bred from large fowl through selection, such as the Barnevelder bantam. At exhibitions and judging events, the breeds are usually categorized by country of origin.
'Dutch' breeds
The Dutch breeds are usually named after the region or place where they were developed. In the case of the Barnevelder, the Welsummer, and the Noord Hollands Hoen, this initially concerned utility breeds, but these breeds have now been surpassed in productivity by commercial hybrids and now fall under ornamental breeds. In addition to the breeds originating from the Netherlands, there are about 150 recognized foreign breeds, both bantam and large, in our country. And when we consider that there are on average 7 different color varieties of each breed (with only one color variety for one breed but more than thirty for another), there are thus more than 1000 possibilities……..!
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