Belgian Watermaal

[CastielH]

The Belgian Watermaal (sometimes spelled as Watermael) is a clean legged true bantam that is ABA recognized and has a dedicated group of breeders and exhibitors working to get it APA recognized. I'll be posting my own flock and welcome anyone else with Watermaal to chime in, this thread is open to anyone who has Watermaal, is interested in learning more about them, or just wants to see cute chickens. The Watermaal Club of America has an active community on Facebook for anyone who is interested. I'm including the current ABA standard as one of the founders of the breed in the US posted here on BYC as well as a few educational posters made by members of the club.

I'll make a post when I get the chance to grab individual pictures of my birds but I currently have 8 birds, 6 white and 2 black, they're about 7 weeks old.

Would like to mention that the Watermaal standard is not published in the ABA because it is listed as an inactive breed. HOWEVER, it IS recognized and it does have a standard here in the United States. The recognized varieties of the breed here are as follows: Black, Blue, Buff, Mottled, Quail and White
Because this is such a rare breed in the US that is not commonly sought out and because there are few people who know a significant amount about this bantam and also because the standard is not actively published in the ABA standard of perfection, I am adding it here so those who are interested can better familairize themselves:
ABA dWatermael Written Standards
Translated from German Standard

Watermaal Bantam
Origin: Belgium. American Status: Rare, if at all.
Note: Should be preserved because of unique three-spiked rose comb.

Weights
Cock: 26 ounces Hen: 22 ounces
Cockerel: 22 ounces Pullet: 20 ounces

Shape of Male

COMB: Rose - broad, rather short, nearly square in front, sitting firmly and evenly on head, top level, covered with fine points, free from hollows, with three spikes that are round at the base to their tips, each tapering to a fine point, the middle spike being longer than the two outer spikes that press down on the tassel.
TASSEL: A tuft or crest of feathers rising from the rear of head at rear of comb, falling gracefully over back neck.
BEAK: Short, strong, well curved.
FACE: Fine in quality, nearly concealed by relatively long muff feathers.
BROW: Heavily feathered.
EYES: Bold, prominent.
WATTLES: Rudimentary only.
EAR LOBES: Very small, inconspicuous, and hidden by muffs.
BEARD & MUFFS: Abundant, very fully developed, the whole forming a collar of three barely separated ovals, giving muffed effect.
HEAD: Appearing to be large because of tassel.
NECK: Medium length, feathers abundant, convexly arched on the order of what is termed bull necked.
HACKLE: Entirely covering shoulders and most of back, forming a closely joined cape in front of neck.
BACK: Moderately broad and short, slanting noticeably from shoulders to tail, rather abrupt angle at juncture with tail.
SADDLE: Profuse, medium length lower saddle feathers.
TAIL: Main Tail - feathers strong, of medium width, moderately spread at all times, carried a little short of the perpendicular, not hidden by sickle feathers.
Sickle -- two main sickles slightly curved, ending in a point at their extremities.
Lesser Sickles -- rising above one another fan-like, ending in point at their extremities.
Coverts -- broad, filling in space between sickles and saddle.
WINGS: Moderately large, carried well back and down below the tail, lower edge slightly above hocks.
Shoulders & Fronts -- well concealed by hackle.
Primaries -- moderately long, concealed by secondaries.
Secondaries -- moderately long and broad.
BREAST: Very broad and deep, upper part well developed and carried well forward.
BODY & STERN: Body -- deep, short, stubby. Stern -- fluff, short.
LEGS & TOES: Legs -- set well apart when viewed from front.
Lower Thighs -- short, stout at top, tapering neatly to hocks, heavily feathered.
Shanks -- medium length, smooth, round, stocky.
Spurs -- short, fine, set low.
Toes -- four, straight, well and evenly spread.
APPEARANCE: Proud, noticeably erect.

Shape of Female

COMB: Rose - broad, rather short, nearly square in front, sitting firmly and evenly on head, top level, covered with fine points, free from hollows, with three spikes that are round at the base to their tips, each tapering to a fine point, the middle spike being longer than the two outer spikes that press down on the tassel.
TASSEL: A small, half globular crest of feathers, rising from rear of head at rear of comb, falling gracefully over back of neck.
BEAK: Short, strong, well curved.
FACE: Fine in quality, concealed muffs.
BROW: Heavily feathered.
EYES: Bold, prominent.
WATTLES: Rudimentary only.
EAR LOBES: Very small, inconspicuous, and hidden by muffs.
BEARD & MUFFS: Abundant, very fully developed, the whole forming a collar of three barely separated ovals, giving muffed effect.
HEAD: Appearing to be rather large due to heavy feathering, reminding one of an owl, carried well back on a parallel line with tip of tail.
NECK: Short, convexly arched, feathers forming a ruffle behind neck, feathers broad and covering shoulders, but not front of neck.
BACK: Moderately broad, short, slanting noticeably from shoulders to tail.
CUSHION: Profuse, feathers broad.
TAIL: Main Tail -- feathers strong, medium width, top feather slightly curved in a convex manner, not too widely spread at a little short of the perpendicular.
Coverts -- abundant, flowing well up tail.
WINGS: Moderately large, carried well up back, lower edges slightly above hocks.
Shoulders & Fronts -- concealed by hackle.
Bows & Coverts -- prominent, well rounded.
Primaries -- medium width, concealed by secondaries.
Secondaries -- medium length, broad.
BREAST: Very broad and deep, upper part well developed and carried well forward.
BODY & STERN: Body -- deep, short, stubby. STERN -- fluff, short.
LEGS & TOES: Legs -- set well apart, straight when viewed from front.
Lower Thighs -- short, stout at top, tapering neatly to hocks, heavily feathered.
Shanks -- medium length, smooth, nicely scaled.
Toes -- four, well and evenly spread.
APPEARANCE: small, plump, sedate.

DISQUALIFICATIONS
Absence of beard or muffs -- Wattles severed or removed -- More or less than three spikes on comb.

DEFECTS
Head carried too far forward -- Comb with concave or hollow center -- Large or conspicuous ear lobes -- Underdeveloped beard or muffs -- Back too nearly level and too long -- Excessive flow of sickles in males -- Excessive length of legs.

 

[Amer]

I have!! They are gorgeous!

I have mottled d'Anvers, so I probably could get some if I wanted at some point! I got a Satin from Red Roof and she said it came from Gold Laced Satins and a Confetti Rooster and it is lavender mottled!! She's super jealous of him haha. So now that I have seen it, I like it even more than just in pictures haha. The cuckoo is really fun too though and I really need to focus for a bit on what I have! I have issues with focus in chickens! There are so many awesome colors and breeds, it's hard to stay intent on one direction.

Haha, I haven’t had trouble staying focused at all, ever since I have tasted perfection.

 

[TallPinesRanch]

Hi everyone,

I’ve just stumbled across this thread (I’m more of a lurker here ) and was thrilled to see Watermaals still have a good following although they’re not at all common. Anyway, my daughter got a pair of Watermael from Kristen G (I’m assuming she’s the same lady I’ve seen posting on this this thread) in Oct and we absolutely adore them.

I wondered if the Association Facebook group was still active and if someone could send me info on how to get my daughter a membership in the breed club (if one still exists).

Obligatory picture of ours from the day they arrived.

 

[kurby22]

If I wasn't already going polish bantams for my friends daughter I would love to try these guys out. Don't think I've seen any at the one Texas show I go to. (Not showing any birds yet, we just go to you know physically window shop)

Wellllll if you decide you have extra room…they’re pretty tiny and would take up very little space! They’re so chill…I took Christmas pics today and they were the only ones that cooperated enough to get nice pictures

 

[KristenG]

@kurby22 I am sorry to inform you that number of spikes and presence or absence of tassel are some of those things that just don’t really change from the day they hatch. Sometimes the tassels will be small but you should see the tassel feathers the same time beard feathers come in (6-8weeks). Sometimes comb spikes will develop from spike buds that are so small that you didn’t realize they were there, but many of mine I can tell at hatch (with a magnifying glass). If you cannot see them at hatch, wait about 6 weeks and check again- you will be able to see them as soon as the combs start to redden (6 weeks for the boys, or as late as 16-20 weeks for the girls). If you cannot see them by then, your bird didn’t get the right genes.

Sorry to hear about the pea comb!

Figured I’d share a few of mine
First photo is of a black Watermaal pullet- about 9 weeks old.

This is Cobbs, one of my Quail Watermaal cocks

Next is a Blue Quail Watermaal cockerel, about 4 months old. Ohio National 2023 is supposed to be the qualifying meet for Blue Quail Watermaal to get them admitted to the standard, so I was hoping to show him. I took an additional photo of his comb so you can see his spikes are clearly developed - though his comb is not perfect by any means.

Than this 4 month old quail pullet. I grabbed her because her comb is reddening and it is an example of a challenging comb. Just for the record, her tassel is bigger than I would like to see as well. She may be a bird I end up rehoming. She is very sweet though. Take a close look at her spikes, the two outer spikes are perfectly defined as they should be at this age. The middle one *IS* there, but you have to look close! Middle spike is supposed to be the longest.

 

[kurby22]

I got lucky last night and a lady posted she was selling 3 Watermaal hens! So I left work early today and drove 3 hours round trip to get them None of my current hens have trifed combs, so these will really help get things going in the right direction! I’m also going to maybe get a blue quail rooster in a couple weeks at the Watermaal meet. Yay!

 

[CastielH]

Adding a bit more on combs to help others know what to look for. This first is a Quail Watermaal pullet 4-months. Her spikes are clearly developed already even though her comb is not fully developed. You will only get the desirable long spikes on developed combs if the babies combs have defined spikes.
View attachment 3592346
If the spikes are not clearly defined at day one, and sometimes even if they are, you can end up getting faults, such as short spikes, a weak spikes, or a partially fused spike like in the below 4-month old blue quail cockerel (middle and the bird’s left spike are partially fused):
View attachment 3592348
And in younger birds, notice the presence of three elongated spikes on the back of this 8 week old quail Watermaal pullet’s combs:

View attachment 3592349
It’s okay is they are a little shorter, but I wouldn’t want them much shorter than the spikes on this 9-week old black Watermaal pullet’s comb:
View attachment 3592351
And I am disappointed in this Silver quail cockerels comb, where the single spike (or tiny fused double) on the end is smaller or the same as the rest of the comb texture - he is 8 weeks old and also has a very small tassel. At this age I would not keep any birds with a smaller tassel than this:
View attachment 3592353
View attachment 3592354
And finally, this is a quail male with a triple spike but he has 2 side sprigs (they are the equivalent of side sprigs, though on rose combs these might be considered large texture). It almost looks like an additional spike, but it is not on the back end of the comb and is not inherited like a spike. The second one is concealed on the birds right (photo’s left) under tassel feathers. I like how small this comb is and how it lacks wrinkles. I would like it to be squared off in the front. I would prefer it not have the sprigs, but overall this is a strong comb on a 4-month-old
View attachment 3592356

Thank you so much for your posts! These are all great visuals for what we should be looking for. I'm really glad you mentioned the tassel size because that's something I've started looking at with my birds as I evaluate them. Both of the males I'm for sure keeping have correct tassels but I only ended up with three pullets from my hatch two of whom have crests and one who is crestless, in your opinion is there a strong reason to only use the pullet without a tassel or given that both cockerels have tassels do you think it could work for at least a first generation to pick more girls from? My knockoff d'Anvers has the best body out of all three pullets so I'm planning to keep her regardless. Here's one of my other girls just so you can get an idea of what I'm working with, my birds are about 16 weeks if that helps.

 

[CastielH]

And, I forgot to mention, the tassel on this white bird you posted is nearly perfect. Hopefully this is a homozygous tassel and hopefully there is a triple spike there. So cute, thanks for sharing!

She has what looks to be three spike buds but we’ll see when she gets a bit closer to laying! Thank you again for all your advice I really appreciate it.

 

[Amer]

They’re so pretty! How old are they now?

I’m having a terrible time trying to determine gender on these chickens! They mature very slowly and I don’t see obvious saddle feathers like other breeds. Some of them are pretty obvious based on comb color and size, but mine are 12 weeks old and only a couple are red enough to see as obvious. My d’Anvers are so much more obvious and the Ameraucanas have saddle feathers by 10 weeks.

My lavender is a boy, but also has the wrong comb it’s straightish and pea-ish…but he has a tassel. Then I have a couple girls from Watermaal eggs without a tassel and one spike but it’s not centered on the comb Just curious if you’ve found any tricks or signs or if I just have to be patient (impatient)!

I love the quail color because my quail babies are so quick and easy to sex! I haven’t had cuckoo for a while yet, but it looks like it might turn out the same way.

Adding a bit more on combs to help others know what to look for. This first is a Quail Watermaal pullet 4-months. Her spikes are clearly developed already even though her comb is not fully developed. You will only get the desirable long spikes on developed combs if the babies combs have defined spikes.
View attachment 3592346
If the spikes are not clearly defined at day one, and sometimes even if they are, you can end up getting faults, such as short spikes, a weak spikes, or a partially fused spike like in the below 4-month old blue quail cockerel (middle and the bird’s left spike are partially fused):
View attachment 3592348
And in younger birds, notice the presence of three elongated spikes on the back of this 8 week old quail Watermaal pullet’s combs:

View attachment 3592349
It’s okay is they are a little shorter, but I wouldn’t want them much shorter than the spikes on this 9-week old black Watermaal pullet’s comb:
View attachment 3592351
And I am disappointed in this Silver quail cockerels comb, where the single spike (or tiny fused double) on the end is smaller or the same as the rest of the comb texture - he is 8 weeks old and also has a very small tassel. At this age I would not keep any birds with a smaller tassel than this:
View attachment 3592353
View attachment 3592354
And finally, this is a quail male with a triple spike but he has 2 side sprigs (they are the equivalent of side sprigs, though on rose combs these might be considered large texture). It almost looks like an additional spike, but it is not on the back end of the comb and is not inherited like a spike. The second one is concealed on the birds right (photo’s left) under tassel feathers. I like how small this comb is and how it lacks wrinkles. I would like it to be squared off in the front. I would prefer it not have the sprigs, but overall this is a strong comb on a 4-month-old
View attachment 3592356

Wow, the triple spiked comb seems like a challenge! It is certainly a unique breed trait.

 

[Amer]

Ohio National boy