What's the Standard?

The Standard of Perfection is the American Poultry Association's official guide to the poultry breeds it recognizes: Chickens, both Large Fowl and Bantams; Waterfowl, Ducks and Geese; and Turkeys. The American Bantam Association has its own Bantam Standard, http://www.bantamclub.com/, including both chickens and ducks. The two organizations collaborate but there are some differences. They define exactly what each breed and variety should be. At exhibitions, judges compare each bird to the definition in the Standard in making their determinations.

The question came up from a breeder who is raising a flock of Delawares, his pullets shown here. He wasn't sure exactly what characteristics he should be selecting in culling his flock and keeping breeding birds. You do not have to join the APA to purchase a copy of its Standard, http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/. Both black & white and color editions are available.

Some prefer the black & white illustrations, created over 1914-1952 by artists such as Arthur O. Schlling, Franklane L. Sewell, Louis Paul Graham and I.W. Burgess. Color paintings were first included in 1983, most of them done by Diane Jacky. The Bantam Standard includes some black & white line drawings and devotes an entire page to each breed illustrated. Not all breeds and varieties are shown.

Delawares are a modern composite breed developed from the cross between Barred Rocks and New Hampshire hens in the Delmarva Peninsula in the 1940s. They are a dual purpose breed growing into a large table bird, roosters reaching 8.5 lbs. and hens 6.5 lbs., and good layers. Their beautiful Columbian color pattern is so eye-catching that the breed was accepted for APA recognition in 1952. Crossing the hens with a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire rooster results in sex-linked chicks that are easily separated into Columbian-pattern males and solid red females

A copy of the Standard is necessary to breed any birds successfully. Selection is partly art, and your eye will develop over time. Seek guidance from experienced breeders, who can advise you on the nuances of individual breeds.

As the custodian of these standards, the APA carefully protects its copyright. Use descriptions and illustrations only with permission.

Poultry art

Carolyn Guske is painting farm animals, http://carolynguske.com/. She has beautiful portraits of American Buff Geese, shown here. She also has portraits of cattle and pigs. The portraits are available as Giclee prints, a process of reproducing art on watercolor paper that creates prints virtually indistinguishable from original watercolors. She also reproduces them on notecards. Perfect for me -- I like to delight the people I write to with beautiful cards.

Carolyn has spent the past 30 years as an artist, applying her skills and talent to film animation, excellent training for painting animal portraits. Her native California is the best possible location for that. She's worked on film animation projects ranging from Sponge Bob to Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid, as well as one of my favorites, Spirit, the Stallion of Cimarron. In television animation, she's worked on Bambi 2, Woody Woodpecker and Jungle Book 2.

Carolyn brought all that art experience to the farm during a break between projects and began painting the animals she saw there. "I received such personal satisfaction from rediscovering watercolor after a 20 year hiatus that my focus turned," she says. "I intend to paint every rare breed farm animal. Having a subject you are passionate about is paramount."

Her hope is to communicate her impression of the beauty and personality of each animal, such as this Midget White Turkey. By bringing attention to these rare breeds, she hopes to increase appreciation for our agricultural heritage.

She is looking for beautiful animals to paint. She prefers to travel to the farm and take her own photographs, from which she paints the portraits. Contact her at carolynguske@gmail.com.

Some amazing artists have applied their talents to domestic animals over the years. Robert Frost, in his poem about hsi favorite chicken, describes her as "one a Sewell might have painted," referring to Franklane L. Sewell, some of whose paintings are still used by the American Poultry Association to illustrate its Standard of Perfection. The current issue of the Standard is dedicated as a tribute to the artists of black and white portraits, with Arthur O. Schilling leading the list.

Welcome, Carolyn, to the distinguished ranks of poultry artists. I look forward to seeing more of your work and sharing it with friends.

Mad City Chickens in Santa Barbara

What a delight to be greeted by over 200 enthusiastic chicken lovers! They came to view Mad City Chickens, http://www.tarazod.com/filmsmadchicks.html, and then talk about chickens. Katherine Anderson, local farmer who raises chickens and turkeys, and Loren Luyendyk, http://www.sborganics.com/Contact.html, a carpenter who builds chicken coops, also answered questions.

The Santa Barbara Library’s Faulkner Gallery is a beautiful room. People squeezed in, some sitting on the floor. They were all good humored and eager to get help with their chicken questions and willing to help others.

Bob Banner of Hope Dance is planning another Mad City Chickens showing in San Luis Obispo for September 10. I’ll post it here as soon as it is confirmed.

I’ve seen the movie several times now. It’s a Feel Good movie as well as documenting the backyard chicken situation and the legal particulars of Madison, Wisconsin. Watching it with an appreciative audience makes it all the more enjoyable.

People often ask what the legal requirements are in their communities. I’ve put together summaries for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, which I’m happy to share. Many communities post their ordinances online, so you may be able to locate the relevant ordinance yourself. If not, contact the planning and zoning department of the governing body that has jurisdiction over your property. My experience talking with the people who are there to answer questions is that they are helpful and knowledgeable. They are getting a lot of questions about chickens, so they are current about the situation in your community.

Mad City Chickens in Santa Barbara

What a delight to be greeted by over 200 enthusiastic chicken lovers! They came to view Mad City Chickens, http://www.tarazod.com/filmsmadchicks.html, and then talk about chickens. Katherine Anderson, local farmer who raises chickens and turkeys, and Loren Luyendyk, http://www.sborganics.com/Contact.html, a carpenter who builds chicken coops, also answered questions.

The Santa Barbara Library’s Faulkner Gallery is a beautiful room. People squeezed in, some sitting on the floor. They were all good humored and eager to get help with their chicken questions and willing to help others.

Bob Banner of Hope Dance is planning another Mad City Chickens showing in San Luis Obispo for September 10. I’ll post it here as soon as it is confirmed.

I’ve seen the movie several times now. It’s a Feel Good movie as well as documenting the backyard chicken situation and the legal particulars of Madison, Wisconsin. Watching it with an appreciative audience makes it all the more enjoyable.

Comparing Cornish Rock crosses with Turkens

Eatwell Farm, a certified organic farm near Dixon, California, south of Sacramento, will compare customers' reactions to Cornish Rock crosses and Turkens when they process flocks of each in September. The farm purchased 450 Cornish Rock chicks this past week. They will be ready for slaughter at the end of September, the same time as the Turkens the farm started in July, http://tinyurl.com/lg4gqx.

Turkens are also known as Naked Necks, the name under which they are recognized by the American Poultry Association. Their history is undocumented, with most tracing them to Transylvania in Eastern Europe, but Harrison Weir in Our Poultry (1912) records that they are from Japan. It's not impossible that separate strains with fewer feathers were independently developed. Although they have been around for a long time -- Weir quotes an 1810 source and Lewis Wright mentions them in his 1890 Illustrated Book of Poultry -- they were only added to the Standard in 1965. Four color varieties were recognized at that time: Red, White, Buff and Black.

The Turken name is derived from Turkey Necks, and perhaps the fanciful idea that they are somehow the result of crossing chickens and turkeys. This cross has never occurred. Other names by which they are known are Gillikins and Nudes. This photo by Corallina Breuer shows a Light Brahma rooster and a Red Naked Neck rooster.

The advantage of the naked neck gene is that the birds have half the feathers of other breeds, making them easier to pluck. Nevertheless, they are hardy fowl, withstanding even cold conditions well. They are good layers and dress out as good meat birds, cocks weighing around eight and a half pounds and hens six and a half pounds.

Check my blog entry for February 19, 2008 for a report about a cooking event organized by Frank Reese in Kansas to compare several traditional breeds.

I look forward to following Eatwell Farm's experience and reporting it here.

Restaurant chickens

Pizzaiolo, an Oakland restaurant, http://www.pizzaiolooakland.com/, has installed its own chickens. When these six pullets start laying, their eggs will be part of the restasurant's fare. They include Buff Laced Polish and Exchequer Leghorns. The LA Times carried an article on the front page on August 18, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-citycoop18-2009aug18,0,1964942.story.

Owner Charlie Hallowell concedes that his small flock won't ever lay enough eggs to serve the 250 customers who come to the restaurant, even on a slow night. But I applaud his ingenuity and in this case, it's the thought that counts. He's making a point about knowing where our food comes from, eating local and treating livestock humanely. Those chickens will do a lot to educate his customers, who are welcome to visit the coop.

Local food advocates are sometimes accused of being elitist, promoting food that is too expensive for an average budget. Hallowell is a graduate of Alice Waters' Chez Panisse, but he's located his business in Oakland and serves $10 pizza. Topped with an egg, $1 extra. He lives, with his wife and two children, in the apartment above the store.

Here in Cambria, south of Oakland, Fog's End Bed and Breakfast keeps four hens to provide fresh eggs to the guests, http://www.fogsend.com/. I met the proprietors through chickens. They had recently acquired chicks and we connected when they had questions about getting started. The girls have done well and enjoy their life among the backyard grape vines.

These businesses are responding to their customer's wishes. We are all heading in a good direction.

Helping Animals One Search at a Time

You may not have heard of the Society for Preservation of Poultry Antiquities. It’s been around since 1967 and has had 501c(3) nonprofit status since 2002. Its mission is to protect and preserve, for historical, educational and recreational purposes and in the public interest, standard-bred domesticated poultry, waterfowl, turkeys and guineas. The Helping Animals One Search at a Time Contest, http://tinyurl.com/nsjllj, can raise awareness of the organization and its cause.

SPPA’s mission covers a lot of birds, and the breeders who dedicate their lives to them are nearly as rare as the breeds themselves. SPPA needs more members, whether they are able to breed historic birds or not, to keep these breeds going.

Although chicken and eggs are enormously popular foods, the breeds raised by the industry have been designed to meet very narrow needs: high egg production and rapid conversion of feed to meat. They are genetically very limited, lacking the variety of color, size, behavior and many other traits that have made poultry such a welcome companion to human life through the ages.

Historic breeds continue to delight the eye with their colors, from the glossy greenish black plumage of Sumatras to delicately edged feathers of Golden Laced Wyandottes. Their combs range from the crown of the Buttercup to the jaunty tailed rose comb sported by many breeds, including the tiny bantam that bears its name, shown here in a painting done by poultry artist A. O. Schilling.

Crested breeds such as the Polish, like this Golden Laced bird belonging to Fred Anderson, are often pictured as Bad Hair Day chickens, but crests trace a long history back hundreds of years for their usefulness.

Some, like the Brahma, have feathered legs, such as these from Tom's Chicken Farm. This photo also illustrates the size differences between large fowl and bantam birds, only one quarter to one third the size. Others such as the Dorking have clean legs. Many breeds retain broodiness, the instinct to set on eggs for three weeks or longer to hatch their own chicks and then tenderly raise them. Their example is so touching that we call a doting mother a Mother Hen.

Those bright characteristics please the eye and warm the heart, but the value of their genes may impress the more practically minded. If a foundation breed such as the Dorking disappears, its genes are gone forever. Losing those genes may also take with it resistance to disease and ability to overcome other challenges, yet unimagined but perhaps vital in the future. The narrow genetics of modern poultry production is inherently precarious. A whiff of even a low pathogenic form of Avian Influenza can wipe out an overcrowded poultry shed of 40,000 birds. Without the historic breeds, there would be no way to retain those valuable strengths. As yet, viable poultry eggs and sperm cannot be frozen and regenerated.

Poultry are accessible livestock, requiring simple care that puts them within the abilities of children and people with disabilities. More communities are welcoming chickens in backyards, peacefully clucking and producing delicious eggs. Many whose lives have left them battered have found healing in caring for chickens. Women often wistfully remark, “I’ve always wanted to have chickens.”

SPPA supports poultry advocates everywhere. It has organized an initiative to encourage the First Family to add chickens to the White House Organic Garden, posted on this blog March 27. The members provide advice to those who are working to change local laws to allow chickens in their communities. They help novices get started and experienced breeders who are looking for answers. We’re not only saving poultry. We’re saving the world. Join us through http://poultrybookstore.com/.