Old and Rare Breeds

[Hangtown Farms]

I am presently keeping a breeding quad of crele penedesenca and a trio of white empordanesa.
I also have icelandic's though I am going to rehome them to make room for more penedesenca

My goal is with the help of other breeders in California try and get these a little more mainstream out our way

 

[Hangtown Farms]

I am presently keeping a breeding quad of crele penedesenca and a trio of white empordanesa.
I also have icelandic's though I am going to rehome them to make room for more penedesenca

My goal is with the help of other breeders in California try and get these a little more mainstream out our way

here is one of the white empordanesa females

 

[Arielle]

Cooper, I would love to know more about this breed. WOuld you do a little write upon it? Something educational for the lurkers, and me . . I 've never heard of this breed. ANd I only know a pinch about the pennie--it was crossed with marans and is the bane of marans breeding now. Sorry--no offense intended. Not the pennie fault.

 

[DTchickens]

Cooper, I would love to know more about this breed. WOuld you do a little write upon it? Something educational for the lurkers, and me . . I 've never heard of this breed. ANd I only know a pinch about the pennie--it was crossed with marans and is the bane of marans breeding now. Sorry--no offense intended. Not the pennie fault.

Yeah, not sure if I've read much on them either. Look kind of like a White rock at first glance. Just to join in, as I don't think I have really posted on this thread but once as I didn't really have a "rare breed" (except Shamo to an extent) I just started with Kraienköppe this year.. Might throw up some photos later since there was mention of it.

 

[Arielle]

DT, That would be great.

Saladin hasn't been on for a while but I welcome that expertise back. Saladin are you out there??

Maybe we can turn this into a bit of a documentary for some of the breeds.

 

[DTchickens]

few Kraienköppe cockerels. Bad photos, but it isn't real easy as all but two (only one pictured) cockerels are free ranging, and are a tad flighty.

Firstly, the two pea combed ones:
I call this one "Jap", as when you see him well in person I think he resembles a lot of American game X Oriental Game grades commonly referred to as "Jap". But still, I only call him that as a means of identification, a nickname, rather than reference to breed.


Another bird, one of the birds who mature later, I imagine once he finally starts to mature he will look very similarly to "Jap".


Walnut combed birds:
This bird is pretty typical of the type of the rest of the little birds running around the yard, white ears and walnut comb included. Actually this one and one other I can never tell the difference between.



And one of the birds that was free ranged for awhile, but I ended up penning as he started to turn into a nice little stag if seen in person. Looks rough as he is growing in new feathers now. Ears look like, but they are red, he is walnut combed, and has pretty good type when seen in person. Maybe once they mature out fully they will look better.


have to grab some pullet photos later, didn't get any new ones yet and they don't look exactly like their old photos anymore.

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[Arielle]

Thank you DT for the pics. I had no idea what they looked like. I have the modern types. Which have a very diferent look, or type.

What is the history of these birds, where did they originate? Have you read up on the development of these birds?

 

[DTchickens]

Thank you DT for the pics. I had no idea what they looked like. I have the modern types. Which have a very diferent look, or type.

What is the history of these birds, where did they originate? Have you read up on the development of these birds?

Arielle, long story short: These birds were developed in the Netherlands/Germany around the early 1800's as a game breed for fighting purposes, because of that there are a lot of different types of gamefowl in the heritage namely: Malay, Old English, Combattant Du Nord (French gamefowl), Sumatra, and if you dig deep enough you'll even find breeds like Shamo, Asil, and so on though they are further back in the lineage. They also have a landrace in their heritage, Drents landfowl, but I've never read any literature on them. When cockfighting was made illegal Leghorn was crossed in to make a better egg layer (about 200 eggs a year, but if you weed through the book I bought "Kraienköppe und zwerg-Kraienköppe, Orloff und zwerg-Orloff" it mentions some who laid around 250 eggs). They're a neat little breed, very different than the birds in their homeland. There is actually a page on them in the Breed Index on this forum that explains some things a little more in detail.

God bless,
Daniel.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Cooper, I would love to know more about this breed. WOuld you do a little write upon it? Something educational for the lurkers, and me . . I 've never heard of this breed. ANd I only know a pinch about the pennie--it was crossed with marans and is the bane of marans breeding now. Sorry--no offense intended. Not the pennie fault.

As with the Penedesenca they are a spanish breed. Basically a Empordanesa is a white Penedesenca. Though in Spain there are a few other color's
They have the same king comb being single with a crown in the back almost.
They lay a very very dark brown egg like the penedesenca. Some say darkest of all though I have not seen any as dark as a Black Copper Maran
They are flighty though not aggressive .On the positive they are great where I am. we have lots of predators and they are very alert.
A lighter to maybe medium breed they do not eat as much as a maran and take the heat much better. They are very heat tolerant.
They both have a nice whispering sound that they speak to each other with. Very nice
Not a good small backyard chicken but great to have in wild or free range situations
Here is a picture of My Crele Empordanesa. If anyone else knows something I missed please Chime in.

Penedesenca come in Black, Crele ,Partridge and wheaten
Empordanesa are white. though there are red and Blue tail in spain.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Kraienkoppe-- I love the history or the creation of an animal because it tells me a great deal about it's use then and it's potential use now. And when a bird is moved from one country to another, especially if there is quite a distance between, the bird can change dramatically for a couple reasons. Either there are not enough of the original birds so they are crossed to domestic ( local) breeds, or they are not suited to the new region and undergo alterations to be better adapted or more useful.

Thank you for sharing!