The Leghorn is a breed of chicken originating in Tuscany, in central Italy. Birds were first exported to North America in 1828 from the Tuscan port city of Livorno, on the western coast of Italy. They were initially called "Italians", but by 1865 the breed was known as "Leghorn", the traditional anglicisation of "Livorno". The breed was introduced to Britain from the United States in 1870. White Leghorns are commonly used as layer chickens in many countries of the world. Other Leghorn varieties are less common.
The Orpington is a British breed of chicken. It was bred in the late nineteenth century by William Cook of Orpington, Kent, in south-east England. It was intended to be a dual-purpose breed, to be reared both for eggs and for meat, but soon became exclusively a show bird.
The German Langshan is a breed of chicken developed from the exported Croad Langshan in Germany. It is a large, robust breed of exceptional height. Though most often raised for show, it has practical application as a layer and meat bird, as well. The standard-sized German Langshan is uncommon in both the United States and the United Kingdom, but the bantam form is popular in the latter.
The Plymouth Rock is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was first seen in Massachusetts in the nineteenth century, and for much of the early twentieth century was the most widely kept chicken breed in the United States. It is a dual-purpose chicken, raised both for its meat and for its brown eggs. It is resistant to cold, easy to manage, and a good sitter.
The Dominique is an American breed of chicken, characterized by black-and-white barred plumage and a rose comb. It is considered to be the oldest American chicken breed, and is thought to derive from birds brought to America by colonists from southern England. It was well known by about 1750, and by the mid-nineteenth century was widely distributed in the eastern United States. It is a dual-purpose breed, but is kept principally for its brown eggs. It became an endangered breed in the twentieth century, but numbers have since recovered.
The Wyandotte is an American breed of chicken developed in the 1870s. It was named for the indigenous Wyandot people of North America. The Wyandotte is a dual-purpose breed, kept for its brown eggs and its yellow-skinned meat. It is a popular show bird, and has many color variants. It was originally known as the American Sebright.
The New Hampshire Red or New Hampshire is an American breed of chicken. It was developed in the early twentieth century in the state of New Hampshire by selective breeding of Rhode Island Red stock; no other breed was involved. It is fast-growing, early-maturing, quick-feathering, and yields a meaty carcase. Mature birds are a light or medium red in color; they may fade in sunlight.
The Minorca, Catalan: Gallina de Menorca, Spanish: Menorquina, is a breed of domestic chicken originating in the Mediterranean island of Menorca, in the Balearic Islands to the south-east of Spain. It is a well-known exhibition bird in many countries of the world, but in the island of Menorca is an endangered breed and considered to be at risk of extinction.
The Crèvecœur is an endangered historic breed of crested chicken from the Pays d'Auge, in the Calvados département of Normandy, in north-western France. It is named after the commune of Crèvecœur-en-Auge. It is related to the La Flèche and to other Norman breeds such as the Caumont and Caux and the extinct Pavilly; the Merlerault was formerly considered a sub-type of the Crèvecœur.
The Yokohama is a German breed of fancy chicken, with unusual colouring and very long tail-feathers. It was created by Hugo du Roi in the 1880s, and derives from ornamental birds brought to Europe from Japan in the second half of the nineteenth century. Some of these were shipped from the Japanese port of Yokohama, and so were known by that name. In Germany, the Yokohama name is used only for white or red-saddled birds; in the United Kingdom, it is used also for the birds known elsewhere as Phoenix, in various colours.
The Schweizer, German: Schweizerhuhn or "Swiss chicken", is a Swiss breed of domestic chicken. It was bred in 1905 in Amriswil, in the canton of Thurgau, in north-east Switzerland. It is kept mainly in German-speaking areas of the country. Based on population data for 2021, it may be extinct. It is one of three Swiss chicken breeds, the others being the Appenzeller Barthuhn and the Appenzeller Spitzhauben.
The Ostfriesische Möwe, Dutch: Groninger Meeuw, is an old German breed of domestic chicken. It is a rare breed: in 2016 the recorded population in Germany consisted of 215 cocks and 979 hens, in the hands of 130 breeders. Its conservation status is gefährdet, "endangered".
The Bergische Kräher is a German breed of domestic chicken from the Bergisches Land, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is named for its unusually long crow, up to five times as long as that of other breeds, and belongs to the group of long-crowing chicken breeds, which are found from south-east Europe to the Far East.
The Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen or GEH is a German national association for the conservation of historic and endangered domestic animal breeds.
The Bielefelder Kennhuhn or Bielefelder is a German breed of domestic chicken. It was developed in the area of Bielefeld in the 1970s by Gerd Roth, who cross-bred birds of Malines and Welsumer stock with American Barred Rocks to create the breed. Like other breeds with Barred Rock parentage, it is auto-sexing – chicks of different sexes can be distinguished by their colour. There is a bantam version, the Bielefelder Zwerg-Kennhuhn.
Long-crowing chicken breeds are characterised by the unusually long-drawn-out crow of the cocks, which may in some cases last for up to 60 seconds. The oldest references to long-crowing cocks are from China. Long-crowing breeds are found in the Far East, in Turkey, in the Balkans and in western Germany.
The Bergische Schlotterkamm is an old and endangered German breed of domestic chicken. It originates from the Bergisches Land, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany, and is one of three chicken breeds from that area, the others being the Bergische Kräher and the German creeper ("Krüper").
The Malines, Dutch: 'Mechelse Koekoek', is a Belgian breed of large domestic chicken. It originates from the area of Mechelen, in the province of Antwerp in Flanders, for which it is named. It was created in the nineteenth century by cross-breeding local cuckoo-patterned farm chickens with various different types of imported Oriental chicken. With the Jersey Giant, it is among the heaviest of all chicken breeds. It is valued for the quality of its meat, which is pale in colour and fine-textured.
The Krüper is a German breed of creeper chicken. It originates in the former Dutchy of Berg, now the Bergisches Land in western Germany, and is one of three chicken breeds from that area, the others being the Bergische Kräher and the Bergische Schlotterkamm. It belongs to the group of original European creeper breeds. The breed has normal-sized and bantam varieties.
