Here's Lynn Shelburne holding her Best Continental Golden Campine Pullet, with judge Eric Engelsman. This beautiful pullet was also Best Large Fowl and Reserve Grand Champion of Show.
Daughter Leah Shelburne' sWhite Call Drake won Best Bantam Duck and Reserve Grand Champion of the junior show.
Judge Engelsman is getting to know these experts well! The local paper, The Spencer Magnet, published another photo of the winng girl and duck: http://www.spencermagnet.com/articles/2008/08/20/community/03duck.txt
The Campine is a very old Belgian egg breed. At 3 1/2 pounds for a pullet and 4 pounds for a hen, they are relatively small but compact and active. Barry Koffler on http://www.feathersite.com/ quotes J. Butler from Old & Rare Breeds of Poultry, Beech Publishing House, 1997: "This is a precocious breed, and at one time it was thought that it might be most suitable for capturing the trade in petits poussins (milk-fed chickens, 6 weeks old, approximately 1.5 lb (650 to 700 g) in weight, and fattened on a special diet as a gourmet delicacy), but lack of enterprise on someone's part has allowed the opening to slip by. This same early maturity may have led to the present lack of body size, and, if so, breeders should try to combat this at all costs, and the time of year for hatching may have something to do with the matter." Could the Campine represent a small farm venture awaiting the ambitious rare breed enthusiast? Mr. Koffler asks.
As the Shelburnes demonstrate, Campines also take their place on Champions Row.
4 comments:
Now my interesting in Campine's is even more piqued! If their personality is anything like the Hamburg's I'm going to have to try them. They certainly are nice eye candy!
Wow! That is a beautiful chicken.
We think we may have gotten one of these mixed in with our order of Black Jersey Giants. She's a flighty thing and does not enjoy human interaction at all, but she's pretty. Thanks for the pictures!
Certainly not a Jersey Giant! Can you send a picture?
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