List of oldest U.S. chicken breeds. Is it correct?

[Bullitt]

The RIR was in the works way before the Buckeye and was always a far superior bird to the Buckeye. That's just history. The RIR development history is perhaps the single most engaging of all American breeds. It is well documented.

A thought, too, is to remember all of the immigrants that are our original chickens. A lot is made of American breeds developed here, but before them there was a strong presence of breeds that shaped out poultry food supply for many a decade before these were even on the map: Games, Dorkings, Hamburgs, Spanish, and Polish. Then there came the Brahmas and the Cochins. They're not classed as "American" breeds per se, but they are more American, in the sense that they have contributed more to the American poultry landscape, than a number of the breeds classed as American.

Yes, I realize there were breeds of chickens brought to the United States and those chickens were used to create U.S. breeds.


It seem I found some incorrect information with the reference to Rhode Island Reds from a Buckeye description.

This article states, "The Rhode Island Red was developed not by fanciers but by poultry farmers in the area of Little Compton, Rhode Island, beginning about 1830." It also states, "The Golden Buff or Golden Red, as the breed was originally called, was first exhibited about 1879 but was bred in large numbers for practical uses before then." Maybe the confusion comes from the name.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...ed-heritage-poultry-zeylaf.aspx#axzz2mv3yHjbm

 

[Bullitt]

See the first post in this thread for updated list.

 

[Extra Java]

"some of the foundation stock came from Java."

Thank you.

At least this fact is finally being admitted.

Thank goodness, I was able to locate and meet the living grandson of Lucy Converse's grandson, J. Lyman Kelly last year. Who testifies to the importation from the Isle of Java and his grandfather wanting to keep his grandmother's line pure.

This particular Black Java line (direct from Java) can be traced up until ~1952.

 

[Extra Java]

The first Poultry Show in America was held at the Public Gardens in Boston Massachusetts on November 15-16, 1849 where there were 1,423 different breeds and 219 exhibitors. The number of people admitted to the show was not less than 10,000 spectators. The Java in it’s own “hometown” was shown and categorized in the Large Asiatic or Great Malay Tribe as “Java”.

 

[Extra Java]

The Mottled Java is an American creation by Nathaniel T. Lattin in 1872 using was was known as "White Brahma" hens (clean shanked) and bred to a Black Java cock.

I have documentation of Lattin's motioning of the APA in 1879 to admit the Mottled and Black Java.

 

[Bullitt]

The first Poultry Show in America was held at the Public Gardens in Boston Massachusetts on November 15-16, 1849 where there were 1,423 different breeds and 219 exhibitors. The number of people admitted to the show was not less than 10,000 spectators. The Java in it’s own “hometown” was shown and categorized in the Large Asiatic or Great Malay Tribe as “Java”.

The APA classifies Java in the American class.

The story goes that chickens were brought from Java to the United States and those chickens were bred with other chickens to create the Java breed. I have no doubt that the Black Java was first. There was mottled and white also. There was also an auburn type that died out by the late 1800s. But this was one of the foundation breeds for the Rhode Island Red.

What would you like me to do? The official story is that the Java is the second-oldest American breed of chicken. If you get the APA to reclassify Java from American to Asiatic I will take Java off the list of American breeds. But then Black Java and Mottled Java would have to be classified differently, according to what you said.

 

[Bullitt]

The Mottled Java is an American creation by Nathaniel T. Lattin in 1872 using was was known as "White Brahma" hens (clean shanked) and bred to a Black Java cock.

I have documentation of Lattin's motioning of the APA in 1879 to admit the Mottled and Black Java.

He motioned the APA in 1879. I found that Java was accepted by the APA in 1883. That seems to fit.

"But it was not accepted by the APA until 1883. The white, black, and mottled varieties were all accepted by the APA in 1883, but white was removed in 1910 because it looked too much like the White Plymouth Rock."

 

[Extra Java]

Quote: Correct. The motion took place in 1879 and they were exhibited prior to that however, they were admitted into the first Standard in 1873 published in 1874.

 

[Extra Java]

Quote: Have you read "The Java Through Time" or "The Great Contributors of The Java"... ?

Yes, it's a complex topic and an age old debate.

 

[Bullitt]

Have you read "The Java Through Time" or "The Great Contributors of The Java"... ?

Yes, it's a complex topic and an age old debate.

No, I have not read books about the Java chicken breed. But the title of the second book "The Great Contributors of The Java" seems to indicate that it was developed, and probably in the United States.

Is my list correct? If not, what would you change?