Kraienkoeppe Thread!

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DTchickens

Crowing
11 Years
Mar 23, 2008
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Bailey, Mississippi.
Well, I have seen some interest in the breed through my searches. But, as many of the people who have looked into the Kraienkoeppe breed as I, and quite a few others have, they have probably realized very few people actually breed these birds and finding info on them is rather difficult (though I have composed some information from my research which can be found within the breeds index).

So, why not a thread for us all to congregate in and learn from each other? Past or present experiences welcome.

Here's what I've got so far: 20 Ideal Kraienkoeppe fresh in February 23rd (they've grown pretty quickly since this picture!)


G
od bless,
Daniel.

ETA: The Dutch Breed Standard for anyone interested in it.

"Origin: In the Bentheim area, both sides of the German/Dutch border. 1925 was the first time it was shown in Germany.

Breeding Goal: An early maturing laying hen with 180-200 eggs in the first year of lay, 150-160 in the second year; non-broody; very rich in tender white meat; minimum weight for hatching eggs is 58-60 grams; shell colour: white to tinted.

General Impression: A sleek, powerful type of country chicken, giving the impression of a game bird; especially in the head, and then carriage, and thighs; the tail that is set wide and carried ‘attached’; tight feathering, which gives them protection from moisture; feathers on both sides of the quill are narrow; a trusting but very lively temperament.

Standard weights: Rooster (2.5-3.0 kg: 5.5-6.6 lb), Hen (2.0-2.5 kg: 4.4-5.5 lb).

Breed Characteristic

Rooster

Body: powerfully built, sleekly elongated, with broad shoulders, upright, elongated carriage; hold themselves like a game bird.

Back: good, medium-long, straight, barely narrows from the powerful, wide shoulders to the back; lightly slopes, with a wide, rich (but not too long) saddle.

Tail: A bit more than medium-long, with a pronounced tail angle; it carries the feathers lightly spread, with a lot of rounded, hard-shafted sickle feathers which lean toward the body in a beautiful semi-circle; set wide.

Breast: wide, full, carried somewhat high and bulging slightly towards the front.

Stomach: pretty wide, fully developed.

Wings: pretty long, slightly open, but not carried lose/floppy; they lay close to the body; the wing tips are under the saddle feathers.

Head: short, wide, rounded, with small brow ridges, and a 'mare's neck'.

Face: red, fine skinned, free of feathers, short.

Eye: vivacious, fiery, yellow-red to red, deep set.

Beak: short, strong, yellow; horn-striped

Comb: not too narrow, laying well on the head, a knot of flesh on the front part of the skull; in the shape of a half, rather long strawberry; shouldn’t go on past middle of eye; in a well-bred specimen it has tiny points.

Ear lobes: small, red.

Wattles: very short, do not obscure the red throat.

Neck: A little more than medium-long, powerful; feathers are not too long in the hackle; the hackle really highlights the mare’s neck, and does not cover the shoulders due to the short feathers.

Thighs: muscular, pronounced forward placement with smooth feathers.

Legs: good; medium-long, slim; unfeathered, yellow without red stripes.

Feathers: tight, no fluffy or loose plumage.


Hen

The powerful, slender body is carried almost horizontal; she shows a well-developed laying stomach that reaches far toward the back; a tail that is carried slightly open (spread), easily visible thighs, hard plumage, the comb is pretty small; wattles almost invisible; ear lobes small and red -- if pale like a game bird, this is not a fault.

COLOUR STANDARDS

Silver Duckwing Rooster: Head: white; hackle is silver-white with pronounced black shaft line; back, shoulders and saddle are pure silver white, but with pronounced shaft lines; the wing covers are silver-white; cover feathers (‘Binden’) are black with green sheen. The secondaries are white on the outside, but black on the inside and tip; the primaries are black with narrow white outer edges; the breast, stomach, and thighs are black; the tail is deep black with green sheen on the sickles.

Silver Duckwing Hen: head is silver-grey; hackle is silver-white with black or grey shaft lines; back, shoulders, and wings are grey with a fine silver-grey sprinkles and white feather shaft; and so every feather shows a narrow light silver-grey edge. No "glitter" (light, shiny, unmarked edge of a speckled feather). Breast, powerful, salmon-colured; stomach moving toward tail a light ash-grey; tail is black-grey, looking as if sprinkled with flour.

BBred

'Rooster: head, orange-red; hackle, with black or grey shaft lines; wing bows and back are gold-red; saddle feathers are gold-yellow with weak shaft lines; wing covers are gold-red with black cover feathers with green sheen; secondaries are brown on the outside, black on the inside and the tip; primaries are black with narrow brown outer edges; breast is black; rest of feathers are black; sickles have green sheen.

Hen: gold-yellow head; hackle is gold-yellow with black or grey shaft lines; the body feathers are of a light brown main colour – colour tone even throughout, with fine black stripes or peppering; every feather has a yellow shaft and fine, equally wide narrow gold-yellow edges, with no glitter; breast is salmon coloured; stomach and toward tail are brownish to ash-grey; tail is black with brown marks.

Major faults: short or narrow body; thin or short neck; too high or too low position; Malay back; wings that hang down, are floppy; a steep tail or one that has few feathers or is flat; white or grey speckles in dark feathers; either a plump or narrow pointy narrow head; an abnormal comb; wattles that are large; fish eyes; plumage that is soft and fluffy; narrow sickles; duck-footedness; cowlicks in the neck feathers; twisted feathers;

COLOUR FAULTS

For Silver Duckwing: a rich, strong grey shaft line; a too long shaft line; black dots in the hackle; any impurities in the white – brown, red, yellow tones; faded colour, or rust colour in the body feathers; neck without marks; mistakes in the salmon breast.

For Black Breasted Red: if it has one coloured, dark, or straw coloured hackle; impure marking; brown breast; if instead of a salmon breast, visible white fluff at the bottom of the feather shaft is visible; black dots in the hackle; black dots in any feather; noticeable rust colour."
 
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Nice to see you starting this thread, Daniel! I hope it has more success than the Kraienkoppe thread I started awhile ago
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Koppes just don't seem to be the most popular breed, unfortunately. If I was in a better financial situation, I'd get some Koppes and start some serious breeding like you're doing. Hopefully some day I can do that....

In the meantime, whether other people see this thread much or not, please keep posting updates and photos of your project on this thread. I would love to watch those things grow, and I can't wait 'til the pullets are old enough to cross with your Malay bantam. I trust that will greatly improve their type.

As I've probably said before, let me know if you have any spare Koppe males that are good-looking but don't fit your purposes. They may do well for my crosses, as long as they don't have "squirrel tails." LOL.

God Bless,
~Gresh~
 
I like Kraienkoppes.

They descended from Oriental/Leghorn crosses, right?
That's right
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They originally began as fighting fowl, and their heritage included Belgian Games, a local landrace fowl, and eventually the Malay. Some Old English Game blood may also have been introduced. However, during the 20th century when egg production became the main concern and animal rights activists began to outlaw cockfighting, the Kraienkoppe was crossed with Leghorns to produce the modern Kraienkoppe, which is more of a dual-purpose breed. Personally, I'm happy with the modern Koppe, because it gives a person the opportunity to keep gamey-looking fowl without the gameness and low-egg-production that accompanies games. However, as many on this thread know, I'm still a staunch supporter of gamefowl breeders, despite the fact that games aren't practical for me.

God bless.
 

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