The Niederrheiner is a German breed of chicken. It is named for the Niederrhein or Lower Rhine region where it originated in the early twentieth century, and derives principally from the Dutch North Holland Blue meat chicken.[1] It was recognized in Germany in 1943.[8] In the twenty-first century it is an endangered breed.[1]
A bantam version, the Zwerg-Niederrheiner, was developed from the standard-sized breed.
History
The Niederrheiner was bred in the Niederrhein or Lower Rhine region of western Germany in the years before the Second World War. Birds of the North Holland Blue meat chicken, developed in Holland at the start of the century, had been brought to the area in the late 1920s, but had attracted little interest.[1] Two breeders, Friedrich Regenstein and J. Jobs, crossed them with various other breeds, both heavy and light, to create the Niederrheiner. It received official recognition in 1943.[1][8]
A breed census in 1997 found 1482 birds in the hands of 138 breeders. In 2001 the Niederrheiner was listed in category III, gefährdet ("endangered") on the Rote Liste of the Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen.[1] In 2007 its conservation status was listed by the FAO as "not at risk";[2]:52 in 2022 it was reported to DAD-IS as "at risk". In 2021 the breeding population was reported to be 1660, consisting of 308 cock birds and 1352 hens.[3]
A bantam version, the Zwerg-Niederrheiner, was developed from the standard-sized breed.[4] It was later used in the development of a bantam North Holland Blue.[9]:10
Characteristics
The Niederrheiner is closely similar to the North Holland Blue from which it derives, the principal difference being the absence of feathering on the legs.[9]:10
The birds are docile and have little tendency to fly; hens are not good sitters.[1] Ring size is 22 mm for cock birds, 20 mm for hens; for bantams, ring sizes are 15 mm and 13 mm respectively.[10][11]
Use
The Niederrheiner was bred as a meat chicken. It is fast-growing, and has fine white flesh and white skin.[1] Standard-size hens lay approximately 200 cream or light brown eggs per year, with an average weight of about 55 g;[8] bantam hens lay about 180 per year, averaging about 40 g in weight.[4]
A blue cuckoo Niederrheiner hen
A birchen Niederrheiner bantam rooster and a pair of hens
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Niederrheiner.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Niederrheiner (in German). Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen. Archived 17 April 2001.
* Walter Schwarz and Armin Six (2004). Der große Geflügelstandard in Farbe. Band 1: Hühner, Truthühner, Perlhühner (seventh edition, in German). Reutlingen: Oertel + Spörer. ISBN9783886275113
The American Game is an American breed of game fowl, chickens bred specifically for cockfighting. It has many color varieties, and may also be kept for ornament.
The Welsummer or Welsumer is a Dutch breed of domestic chicken. It originates in the small village of Welsum, in the eastern Netherlands. It was bred at the beginning of the twentieth century from local fowls of mixed origin: Rhode Island Reds, Barnevelders, Partridge Leghorns, Cochins, and Wyandottes. In 1922–23, steps were taken to fix a standard after the birds began to show a good deal of uniformity. The eggs were originally exported for the commercial egg trade. Some stock was exported to the United Kingdom, and the breed was added to the British Standard in 1930.
The Cochin is a breed of large domestic chicken. It derives from large feather-legged chickens brought from China to Europe and North America in the 1840s and 1850s. It is reared principally for exhibition. It was formerly known as Cochin-China.
The Pekin Bantam is a British breed of bantam chicken. It derives from birds brought to Europe from China in the nineteenth century, and is named for the city of Peking where it was believed to have originated. It is a true bantam, with no corresponding large fowl. It is recognised only in the United Kingdom, where the Cochin has no recognised bantam version; like the Cochin, it has heavy feathering to the legs and feet. The Entente Européenne treats the Pekin Bantam as equivalent to the bantam Cochin.
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 Emden or Embden is a German breed of domestic goose. It is named for the town of Emden in north-westernmost Germany.
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 Appenzeller Spitzhauben is a Swiss breed of crested chicken originating in the historical Appenzell region of Switzerland. It is one of two chicken breeds from that area, the other being the Appenzeller Barthuhn; the only other Swiss breed of chicken is the Schweizer.
The Dutch Bantam is a breed of bantam chicken originating in the Netherlands. It is a true bantam, a naturally small bird with no related large fowl from which it was miniaturized. It is kept mainly for exhibition, and has been bred in many color varieties; it is a good layer of small eggs.
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 Booted Bantam or Dutch Booted Bantam is a European breed of true bantam chicken. It is characterised by abundant feathering on the feet and shanks, which gives it a "booted" appearance; and by vulture hocks, long stiff downward-pointing feathers on backs of the thighs, from which the Dutch name Sabelpoot ("sabre-legged") derives.
The Brabanter is a Dutch breed of crested chicken originating in the historic region of Brabant which straddles Belgium and the Netherlands. It is an ancient breed and is shown in 17th-century paintings. A bantam Brabanter was created in around 1934.
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 Friesian or Frisian, Dutch: Fries Hoen, is an ancient Dutch breed of chicken. It originates in Friesland, on the North Sea coast of the northern Netherlands.
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.
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 Augsburger is an endangered German breed of domestic chicken. It originates from the area of the city of Augsburg, in the Swabian region of the state of Bavaria, in southern Germany. It was bred in the nineteenth century, and derives mostly from the French La Flèche breed. It is the only chicken breed of Bavarian origin.
The Yakido is a Japanese breed of fighting chicken. It belongs to the Shamo group of breeds. It was bred in Kansai region in southern Honshu in the mid-nineteenth century. It was made a Natural Monument of Japan in 1950.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
