Chicken Breed Focus - Sicillian Buttercup

[sumi]

The Sicilian Buttercup, aka Flowerbird we know originated from the island of Sicily. The exact makeup of the breed is lost in time, but it is thought that it descends from the Siciliana breed native to Sicily, which was developed when local birds were interbred with North African birds. Similar chickens are seen in 16th-century paintings found in Rome, Paris and the Vatican.

The Buttercup is easily recognizable due to its unique comb and attractive color pattern. The Buttercup has two single combs which merge at the front and back giving it the appearance of wearing a crown. It comes in only one color/pattern, the roosters are a reddish gold with black tail and the hens a goldish buff in color, with the hens also marked with regular black spangles. It is quite heat tolerant, very active and a good forager. While it is often flighty when young, it is a social bird and adults are usually quite people friendly. They are very good flyers. The combs are susceptible to frostbite, especially the larger combs on the males. The hens are Fair to Good layers of medium sized eggs and are non broody.

It was imported into the US as early as 1835, the first well documented import was in 1860 when C. Carroll Loring of Dedham, Massachusetts, who bred and promoted them for over fifty years, received birds from a Captain Dawes. Captain Dawes had taken some chickens for meat on an ocean voyage, he kept some of the better laying ones which he gave to his neighbor Mr Loring. It is known that all current birds also descend from a shipment that arrived in 1892. It was quickly popular as a laying hen and as an exhibition bird and the first breeders club in the US had 600 members by 1914, it was added to the APA in 1918. Its popularity was rather short lived as it was not competitive with the commercial leghorn type breeds so far as egg production. The breed was also popular in England in the 1920’s but also declined in popularity with the advent of the commercial laying breeds.

It was recognized by the APA in 1918.
It is on The Livestock Conservancy's Watch / Threatened list.

Details:

Breed purpose: Eggs
Comb Type: Buttercup
Broodiness: Non-broody
Climate Tolerance: Average. Comb subject to frostbite.
Weight: Rooster 6.5 lbs, Hen 5 lbs.
Egg Productivity: Fair to Good
Egg Size: Small to Medium
Egg Color: White



Pic by @Arizonachicken


Pic by @duck walk


Pic by @skydancer28


Pic by @Alexandra33


Pic by @ChickenLady2014


BYC Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/sicilian-buttercup

General breed discussions & FAQ threads:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/255769/sicilian-buttercups-post-your-pictures/0_20
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/273378/sicilian-buttercups/0_20


Do you own Sicillian Buttercups? Are you a Sicillian Buttercup breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

We have a bunch of other awesome breed-focus threads for you to enjoy. You can see all of them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-project.975504/

 

[feistychick]

I was looking to add something different to my mixed flock, and decided to get a couple of Sicilian Buttercup pullets. One turned out to be a roo, so I now have a pair. They are still pretty young, Dottie just started laying. I love them so far, they have been very curious and adventurous in temperament (and sweet). Copper (my roo) stands on my lap so I can pet him. They were the cutest chicks too!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would love to have some of these.
Beautiful and unique.

I suppose they are more suited for free range and don't do well kept in a run?

 

[feistychick]

I would love to have some of these. 
Beautiful and unique.

I suppose they are more suited for free range and don't do well kept in a run?

Mine are in a run, I have a lot of predators and have lost birds. I get them out for supervised free range for a while every day and they love it. They'd probably do well free ranging, but mine seem to be okay with how I've been doing it so far. They seem to want to run laps around me and end up hanging around pretty close to whatever I'm doing anyway.

 

[wornoutmomto3]

Yes! I love my buttetcups. They are colorful and friendly. Mine should be laying in the spring. So, I should have more chicks in the spring.

 

[GabrielBane]

I raised a pair of these and a pair of campines for my FFA exhibitors projects junior and senior year of high school and my only regret was not having the space for them I'd have liked. they are gorgeous, personable, and definitely unique additions to any flock, but they definitely do not do well in smaller enclosures/coops (as can be said about most breeds, really) , our school's principle used to come over to our Ag. department specifically to watch the buttercups forage, he loved them.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Mine are in a run, I have a lot of predators and have lost birds. I get them out for supervised free range for a while every day and they love it. They'd probably do well free ranging, but mine seem to be okay with how I've been doing it so far. They seem to want to run laps around me and end up hanging around pretty close to whatever I'm doing anyway.
Quote:
Yes, the being more "free" is what I was thinking. Every once in a while I let my small flock out on the grass (supervised). Fox and dogs are my main daytime predators, so I'm always on alert. My girls do stay very close and with my rooster, but he's no match for a predator (he's more for my amusement, I suppose). All of mine are larger and probably lazier

than the Buttercup would be. BO, BR and SLW I suspect aren't nearly as active (and much larger too). My big girls seem content to dig through the leaves, grass, etc., I dump in the run and take long drawn out dust baths almost daily, then perch and preen - not a lot of action going on there.

 

[Alexandra33]

Thank you SO much for including my lovely little Cookie, @sumi ! What an honor.

I've found Buttercups to be excellent free-rangers, unusually intelligent, predator savvy, and absolutely stunning! Cookie isn't terribly flighty, like you might expect, either. I'm willing to admit that she knows exactly how to manipulate me to get whatever she wants, the spoiled brat. (I say that in love, of course.

)

Here are more pictures of her! She's quite photogenic, actually.

~Alex

 

[pamperedamber]

I have one Sicilian Buttercup who is almost 18 weeks. At what age do they start laying? I am just trying to get a general idea of when I can expect eggs from her. I have 10 other hens from various breeds. Some stated laying at 15 weeks and others took up to 9 months. So far her temperament has been nice. She is the smallest of all my Pullets but is not on the bottom of the pecking order.She is very pretty and I am looking forward to seeing how she turns outs.

 

[feistychick]

I have one Sicilian Buttercup who is almost 18 weeks. At what age do they start laying? I am just trying to get a general idea of when I can expect eggs from her. I have 10 other hens from various breeds. Some stated laying at 15 weeks and others took up to 9 months. So far her temperament has been nice. She is the smallest of all my Pullets but is not on the bottom of the pecking order.She is very pretty and I am looking forward to seeing how she turns outs. 

Mine started around 6 months, and lays cute little white eggs. Mine are adventurous but very sweet. My roo still sits on my lap whenever I ask him to come up. Mine is also smaller than my other hens but not the bottom of the pecking order either. I just love mine!