Chanteclers

The Chantecler was developed by Brother Wilfred Chatelain as a distinctive Canadian breed. The original birds he bred where white. A Partridge variety was recognized by the American Poultry Association, but the birds with that color plumage were actually developed as a separate breed, the Albertan. A Buff variety is also raised, with advocates workiing toward formal recognition. This lovely rooster belongs to Gina Bisco of New York State.

Br. Wilfred held a doctorate in agronomy when he began working to develop a distinctive Canadian breed in 1907. The Cistercian Abbey of Notre Dame du Lac’s flocks comprised about a dozen breeds. He envisioned a practical, white, dual purpose breed with a small comb to withstand Canadian winters.

“It was [Br. Wilfred’s] desire to give his country a breed of poultry with personality, character, a particular quality,” writes Linda M. Gryner in her book, Chantecler & Other Rare Poultry Breeds (September, 1996).

A breakthrough in 1917 brought together a 7 ¾ -lb. Pullet who laid 91 eggs in four months and a 10-lb. White Plymouth Rock cock. The breed was admitted to the American Standard in 1921.

Originally, Chanteclers were held to weight standards of 9 lbs. for cocks, 7 lbs. for hens. The current Standard is 8 ½ lbs. for cocks, 6 ½ lbs. for hens. The unusual cushion comb crowns a dignified head, here shown on one of Ms. Bisco’s roosters.

Frances Backhouse has written about the Klondike in two books, Women of the Klondike and Children of the Klondike, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frances-Backhouse-Klondike-Author/111688515514387. One of those women, Gussie Lamore, was courted by a miner, Swiftwater Bill Gates. He tried to win her heart with eleven eggs, all the eggs in town. They turned out to be rotten, having travelled up from Seattle or Victoria, the only way to get eggs in that cold north country in the 1890s. Br. Wilfred saw the need for a northern chicken!