Meet the Chickens

 

The Belgian Barbu D'Uccle

The Barbu d'Uccle bantam is a true bantam, which means it has no large breed counterpart. It was developed in Uccle on the outskirts of Brussels by Michael van Gelder in the 1890's by crossing the Antwerp Belgian with a Dutch booted bantam (Sabelpoot) to produce the Barbu d'Uccle. This breed is a very friendly birds which cope well with confinement so are suitable for smaller gardens. They are a great bantam for children due to their small size and seem to enjoy interacting with people.

 

Black Mottled Barbu D'Uccles

Millefleur Barbu D'Uccle

 

The Pekin

The Pekin bantam is another true bantam with no large breed counterparts. This breed arrived in Britain in the late 1800s from Peking in China and were later crossed with other breeds to create the Pekin bantam we see today. They are a very gentle bird and make excellent pets for children. Pekins are good layers of small eggs but they are prone to going broody which makes them great mums.  

My current breeding group is the lavender colour. 

 

 

 

 

The Welbar

The Welbar was developed by H. Humphreys of Devon in the 1940’s by mixing the Welsummer and the Barred Plymouth Rock. They come in both a large fowl and bantam version. The Welbar is an active, upright breed

and lay a reasonable amount of brown eggs. They are listed as a priority breed on the Rare Breed Survival Trust chicken watchlist so every chick counts. One of the amazing traits of the Welbar is it is an auto-sexing breed where the male chicks are born yellow and the female chicks have dark strips (as shown in the photo below). I am very excited about this group as I purchased my foundation birds from national champion bloodlines. 

     

    The Groninger Meeuwen

    The Groninger Meeuwen originates from a northern province of the Netherlands, called Groningen. Over the last 80 years, the industrialization of farming resulted in a drastic reduction in the numbers of Groningers, so much so that in 1980 there were only 6 cockerels and 20 hens were left. But their numbers are beginning to recover but listed as a rare breed.

    If regularly in contact with people, like feeding from the hand, they are very calm. The Groninger Meeuwen Chicken is a strong animal that was used to find it own food around the farm. In the character of the animals nowadays this still can be noticed. They especially love high perches and room to flutter. These are a beautiful breed, I like to say the hens look like supermodels with their large eyes.