List of chicken colours

Last updated

Breeders and fanciers of chickens accurately describe the colours and patterns [1] of the feathers of chicken breeds and varieties. This is a list of the terms used in this context.

Contents

Self

Self-coloured chickens are those which display one solid colour without patterning of any kind.

ColourCockHenNotes
Black Spanierhuhn (cropped).JPG Orpington chicken 2.jpg Green iridescence is desired for "beetle black" show chickens.
Blue Blauwe sumatra.jpg
Sumatra
Poule andalouse.jpg
dark blue-laced Andalusian
Splash or Blue Splashed White Splash Sumatra.jpg
Sumatra
Poule Soie splash.jpg
Silkie
Splash is the homozygous form of Blue
Buff Coq orpington fauve.JPG Buff Orpington chicken, UK.jpg
Lavender Lavender orpington lilac.jpg Pekin bantam female.JPG
Red lavender
Red Poule Sabelpoot rouge (1).jpg Amberbock.jpg Red is the intensified version of Buff
White Chicken in Finland.jpg Silky bantam.jpg Silkie

Barred and cuckoo

ColourCockHenNotes
Barred Miss peck2.jpg Barred Rock HenDivided into Dark and Light in Australian Plymouth Rocks
Crele Bielefelder-kennhuhn.jpg The cuckoo pattern with black-breasted red pigmentation
Silver Cuckoo Cuckoo Marans.jpg
Golden Cuckoo

Columbian, belted

ColourCockHenNotes
White Columbian -2019-01-29 Light Sussex Large cockrill, Trimingham.JPG Sundheimer Glucke mit Kuken.jpg
Sundheimer
Called 'light' in the Brahma and Sussex [2]
Buff Columbian Hedemorahona Gammlia 2007-06-24.jpg
Golden Belted Coq vorwerk.jpg Poule vorwerk SIA.jpg Belted resembles Columbian but the head and neck are solid black, not merely striped
Silver Belted Lakenfelder.jpg
cock and hen
Silverlakenvelderchick.jpg
chick

Duckwing

ColourCockHenNotes
Golden Duckwing Blonder Italiener.JPG
Blue Golden Duckwing
Silver Duckwing 1,0 Kraienkopp cropped.jpg Dorking Henne.JPG
Blue Silver Duckwing
Fawn Silver Duckwing FawnSilverDutch.jpg

Laced

ColourCockHenNotes
Black Lacednot used; black-laced plumage is named after the red series colour instead: "golden laced" for black and red, "citron laced" for black and buff, "silver laced" for black and white
Blue Laced Andalusian Blue chicken (male).jpg Andalusian gallus (hen).jpg
Blue Laced Red 2014nr124 - RGZV Frankenthal IMG022 - 0,1 Indische Zwerg-Kampfer, blau-fasanenbraun (cut out).jpg Midge01cropped.jpg
Buff Laced Padoue doree a liseres blancs.jpg also known as Chamois [3] :447
Golden Laced Sebright Cock.jpg
Sebright
Poule Sebright Doree.jpg
Silver Laced Silver Sebright hen.jpg Silver-laced Wyandotte rooster.jpg

Pencilled

ColourCockHenNotes
BirchenSometimes called Grey in Japanese bantams.
Golden Pencilled
Silver Pencilled Tab30 Huhner (Geflugel-Album, Jean Bungartz, 1885).jpg

Mottled, spangled, mille fleur

ColourCockHenNotes
Black Mottled Poule Pekin noir cailloute blanc (1).jpg Hens with chicks.jpg (chicks other color)
Blue Mottled Coq-pekin-bleue-cailloutee SDA2014.JPG Poule pekin frisee cailloutee bleue.jpg
other mottled Thuringer Barthuhn (Hahn) (1).jpg
red
Poule Sabelpoot gris-perle cailloute (2).jpg
lavender
Citron Spangled Ma - Japanese bantam pair - 1.jpg Citron Spangled Hamburg bantam hen.jpg
Golden Spangled Tab29 Huhner (Geflugel-Album, Jean Bungartz, 1885).jpg
Silver Spangled Silver-Spangled Hamburg Sam dinner.jpg Cory's Silver Spangled Hamburgs, February 2021 (cropped).jpg
Mille Fleur Huhnerrasse "Orpington".jpg mahogany Orpington couple Speckled Sussex chick.jpg Sussex chickCalled 'speckled' in the Sussex, 'jubilee' in the Orpington.
Lemon Mille Fleur Poule Sabelpoot porcelaine citronne (1.1).jpg Mille Fleur Bantam Hen.jpg
Porcelain Poule Sabelpoot porcelaine isabelle (1.1).jpg lavender porcelain Poule Sabelpoot porcelaine isabelle (3).jpg lavender porcelainA diluted version of Mille Fleur

Black-tailed

ColourCockHenNotes
Black-tailed Buff Japanese Bantam cockerel.jpg
Black-tailed White Pair of Japanese Bantams.jpg
Black-tailed red Sumava chicken cockerel.jpg

Black-breasted

ColourCockHenNotes
Black Breasted Red Black Breasted Red Onagadori.jpg
Blue Breasted Red Toulouse - Gallus gallus - 2012-02-29 - 3.jpg
Partridge CSN 179.jpg
Wheaten Fro1.jpg
Blue Wheaten

Others

ColourCockHenNotes
Brassy Back
Blue Brassy Back
Blue Light Brown
Blue-red
Brown
Brown RedSometimes called Gold Birchen.
Coloured
Coronation
Cream Light Brown Orangehalsiger Onagadorihahn.jpg
Dark brown
Exchequeronly in the Leghorn [4] :187
Ginger Red
Golden Neck
Golden-necked mille fleur
Gray
Lemon Blue
Light Brown
PyleAlternatively spelt Pile.
Red Pyle 1.0 Deutsches Zwerghuhn Rotgesattelt.JPG
Quail 1,0 Antwerpener Bartzwerg - wachtelfarbig.jpg 0,1 Antwerpener Bartzwerg - wachtelfarbig.jpg
Salmon Vogelpark Viernheim Hahn Deutsches Lachshuhn 2012.JPG Aufmerksame Henne Deutsches Lachshuhn 2012 Vogelpark Viernheim.JPG
Silver Blue Marans-Junghahn-Silber-Blau 2009.jpg Marans-Junghenne-Silber-Blau 2009.jpg
Silver Gray Dorking Hahn.JPG
Splash Splash Sumatra.jpg
TolbuntSeen only in Polish chickens
White Laced Red
ChocolateRare; bred in Orpington bantams in the 1990s [2] :163 [5]

References

  1. All About Chickens: All the chicken colours under the sun. Archived 6 June 2012.
  2. 1 2 David Scrivener (2014). Popular Poultry Breeds. Ramsbury: Crowood. ISBN   9781847979711.
  3. Lewis Wright (1902). The New Book of Poultry. With Forty-Five Plates, by J.W. Ludlow, and the Poultry Club Standards of Perfection for the Various Breeds. London; Paris; New York; Melbourne: Cassell and Company.
  4. J. Ian H. Allonby, Philippe B. Wilson (editors) (2018). British Poultry Standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain, seventh edition. Chichester; Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell. ISBN   9781119509141.
  5. W.C. Carefoot (1996). Chocolate: A sex‐linked recessive plumage colour mutant of the domestic fowl. British Poultry Science. 37 (4): 867–868. doi:10.1080/00071669608417915.