General Information
- Breed Purpose
- Dual Purpose
- Comb
- V-Shaped
- Broodiness
- Seldom
- Climate Tolerance
- Heat
- Egg Productivity
- Medium
- Egg Size
- Large
- Egg Color
- Light Brown
- Breed Temperament
- Wild / restless, Flighty, Bears confinement well, Shy
- Breed Colors/Varieties
- Black, Blue, White, Cuckoo.
- Breed Size
- Large Fowl
- APA/ABA Class
- Continental
La Flèche breed originated in France around the town of La Flèche in the Loire region. Considered an old breed, with many authors dating the origins of the La Flèche breed to the fifteenth century. They were originally created to provide a tender white fleshed “Petit Poussin” chicken for the markets of Paris during the nineteenth century. At one point they were produced commercially but by the beginning of the 20th Century, they had almost died out and were only kept by a few backyard keepers and in small numbers. They grew too slowly for the bigger commercial farms to bother with them. A typical farm of the region would have kept their birds in a free range environment and the La Flèche would have taken 10 months to be reach a good table weight.
La Flèche are thought to be close relations of the Houdan and Crèvecœur breeds. A popular breed in France and Germany through the 20th Century, only a handful existed in the UK, where they never really became popular. By the Second World War they were thought to have died out. Since then, La Flèche has been re-introduced from France and Germany and is getting more attention as breeders (and chefs) look for better taste from table birds in their quests for "real food".
La Flèche chickens entered the APA's Standard of Perfection in 1874.
La Flèche egg
La Flèche juvenile
La Flèche hen
La Flèche rooster
For more information on this breed and their owners' and breeders' experiences with them, see our breed discussion here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-la-flèche.1105088/
