Chicken Breed Focus - Campine

[sumi]

The Campine breed was originally created as a much smaller type or version of the Braekel breed. It was decided in 1884 that the two types should be separated and after a long controversy, the Campine became a separate breed with its own breed standard in August 1904. After further controversy, the two breeds were reunited under a single standard in 1925 or 1926, with the name Kempisch-Braekel. In 1962 it was decided that the original Campine type had entirely disappeared, and the name of the Belgian breed was changed to Brakelhoen.

The Campine was imported to England around 1899, and was bred there to become a very different bird. In particular, hen feathering in males became standard. Hen-feathered Braekel males had been bred by Oscar Thomaes of Ronse, Belgium, in 1904, and a male hatched from one of his eggs took first place at a show in London in that year. Campines were later exported from Britain to the United States, where a Campine male took first prizes at a show in New York city and again in Boston in January 1913.

There are two accepted colour varieties of the Campine, Silver and Gold. The Silver campine has a pure white head and neck hackles, the rest of the bird being barred with beetle-green on a pure white ground. The Golden variety has the same pattern, with the head, neck hackles and body ground colour rich gold. Campines are considered to be a flighty, hardy breed with an active and inquisitive nature.
The breed was added to the APA's Standard of Perfction in 1914.

Details:

Detail Value
Breed Purpose Egg Layer; Exhibition
Comb Single
Broodiness Seldom
Climate Tolerance All Climates
Egg Productivity Medium
Egg Size Medium
Egg Color White
Breed Temperament Friendly, Flighty
Breed Colors/Varieties Campines come in Silver and Golden varieties.
Breed Size Large Fowl
APA/ABA Class Continental


Pic by @RiddleMe


Pic by @JustDawn


Pic by @sharol


Pic by @chickenwelder


Pic by @shanshan51


Pic by @foxflower


Pic by @Renee

BYC Breed Discussion:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/306058/campine-chicken-thread/0_30

BYC Breed Review:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/campine

Do you own Campines? Are you a Campine breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

We have a bunch of other awesome breed-focus threads for you to enjoy. You can see all of them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-project.975504/

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I have one Golden Campine from Meyer Hatchery named Ihi, which is Maori for 'ray of sun'. She's a pet, just for fun. She is, for lack of any more fitting terms, insane. She is not flighty or anything, she just has such crazy antics and a crazy little voice. She's a sweetie, though. Not the most handleable in my flock, but definitely not flighty like my Leghorn. I mainly got her for the white eggs, but I only got one Campine because I wanted to make sure I liked them before I committed to them. I would definitely be willing to get another after owning Ihi.

My favorite characteristic about Ihi is that she makes me laugh all the time. She is just the funniest bird, whether it be the faces she makes, or the little chattering voice she has, or the odd places she ends up. She is such a comedian!

Preening--Peek-a-boo!:

Debating what it was she stepped in:

"DERP."

Brushing her face against the butt-fluff of another hen for no apparent reason:

"Yeah, I'm molting! What's it to ya?"

 

[Alexandra33]

Thanks for the mentions, @chicken4prez and @NorthFLChick !

I was ecstatic when I found this particular Breed Focus upon waking up. As many of you may know, I sort of represent Alex here on BYC by taking her name and never using any other chicken in my avatar but my quirky little sweetie. Might I dare to venture that she has a severe case of "chicken ADHD," which furthers her endearing, ornery personality. I tell you, it is an Olympic feat to snap a picture of her when her head is moving 30 times every second!

And talk about enough energy to power a small town...whew.....

Although Alex is extremely docile and doesn't seem to mind being scooped up, I think she secretly hates having to stay still for even 1 minute. Oh, and one other thing, NEVER try to have a bonfire with marshmallows, s'mores, and hot dogs in peace, because she'll waste no time about flying up on your arm to snatch a gooey marshmallow right out of your fingers, hopping down, and then running away to devour her treat. I mean, really, she doesn't even say please! She's got the most adorable, strange voice in which she expresses her MANY opinions, that I have described as "crackly." It's so cute!

What about the time I walked into the coop, only to find that one of the coils of flypaper hanging from the ceiling was nowhere to be found. Then it dawned on me, what if it's stuck to one of the girls? A quick inspection revealed that the missing flypaper was dragging from Alex's long, beautiful tail....stuck fast. There was simply no pulling it off even if you tried! So, I did the only thing I could-wield a pair of scissors and chop at it until there was only a little stubby thing 1 1/2 inches long left for a tail. Poor Alex! What can I say, she's my nosy girl!

As wonderful as all that is, the most infamous Alex moment still stands in my mind-the day she battled with our Lavender Orpington cockerel, T.Roo (who is no longer

). He got a smidgen too bold, and caught my precious Alex by surprise, ripping a few feathers out of her back. Rather than running away like some of the others did, she turned around with this evil glint in her eye, and proceeded to engage in warfare with the young roo who was attempting to dominate her. Imagine this: a teeny-tiny Campine hen flying with pure hatred at a huge cockerel almost 3 times her size. Finally, she had gotten the best of T.Roo and he began his hasty retreat (believe me, it was hasty, because she was practically anger itself). But victory wasn't enough to satisfy my bloody-thirsty Alex, so she chased him down and proceeded to rip and pull his long sickle feathers until he screamed like a little girl. I still wish I had all this on video!



Alex photobombing Eperny!





Alex enjoying a nice dustbathing session with her little twin, Cookie the Sicilian Buttercup.

-Alex

 

[Drieslag]

Hi there everyone, I just noticed this new thread,very nice. Too mucht to comment on already, but here's my story. Born and bred in the capital of the Campine region in Belgium I spent my youth admiring the Braekels my father and uncle used to have. Later on I learned that my region used to have its own pencilled/barred variety namely the 'Kempisch Hoen' or Campine. But it had gone extinct... things happen I suppose. Then, 20 or more years later I discovered this breed called the Campine in the UK and US. Strange name?! And I soon found out that this breed came from the old Campine breed mixed with some Braekelblood and selected for henfeathering. So I adopted it as our own and one thing led to another. Now there are again dozens of Campines in their original homeland with 20 breeders supporting them. We still have a long way to go, but everything's looking very nice already.

Here's what our refound breed looks like today. Most of them are very dark looking with barred feathers, not pencilled.

 

[Wisher1000]

Okay, now I know why my ears were burning! I raise Silver Campines and have for about five years. I wish (there I go again) that I had more pics, but here is my Avatar pic that everyone loves.

 

[Wisher1000]

Thanks, you two! What we really need is more serious breeders. I am thrilled that the breed is getting more much-needed (and deserved) attention these days, but that will not bring them back. Campines, especially the silvers, were once one of the most common birds in the US. They were extremely popular and were as common in the show ring as in the backyard. Today, you rarely see them in shows and the backyard birds are getting further and further from standard.

I am making a plea to anyone reading this thread to seriously consider dedicating at least five years to breeding Campines. I am not talking about "multiplying" their numbers, but to improving the quality and consistency of the breed.

All you have to do is...

1) Get and study the American Poultry Association Standard of Perfection (SOP)
2) Acquire the best foundation stock you possibly can find (this was the hardest step for me)
3) Hatch as many chicks as you can responsibly house to a year old - you can make progress hatching as few as 25 but 60 is generally considered minimum - the more you hatch, the faster your improvement
4) Cull hard (this is likely the hardest part for the new breeder) and carefully select next season's breeder stock
5) Rinse and repeat!

If you need help, I'm here. PM me or if you are serious, I'll give you my cell phone number for texts or calls anytime. I would love to see more Campines at the shows and would be tickled pink if you were beating me! Seriously! That would mean that you were turning out good, quality, standard Campines, and would spur me to work even harder. Campines are far from taking 'Best in Class,' much less 'Grand Champion,' but it would be nice to have some other people breeding and showing them to compete (friendly competition) against just amongst ourselves. If you can't or don't care to show, that's fine. The sense of pride and accomplishment in just seeing improvements and knowing "I did that" is often reward enough.

Think about it, please, and if you are game, let me know!

 

[sharol]

Oh, my Scout! I lost her last spring to egg binding. When I saw your picture (3rd one down), I thought, that could be my Scout, and then I looked and the attribution, and it was. Thank you for the lovely memory. She was a wonderful, chatty little hen. I'm looking for Campine eggs or chicks for spring. Both my DH and I really loved her.

 

[lawatt]

hello thread -- I'm not on BYC very much these days, but i've similarly had a group of silver campines for the past few years -- they always seem more like regular birds to me than most chicken breeds: they're a bit wild and suspicious, they fly FAR more (and much farther!) than any of my other chickens, and they generally do not like to be handled -- but they are smart and excellent foragers. mine would love to be outside of their pen/run every single minute of every day, but i'm in a predator-heavy area, so they are limited to free-ranging when i can keep an eye on them -- although they're probably the only ones that would be smart enough to fly up into the trees to escape a predator.

a few pictures:





love the leopard-spotted chicks!

and lastly, a recent video:

 

[chicken4prez]

@Alexandra33 , I FINALLY found a pic of our other SSH!!!!!!!

Curious

An our 2nd one that you have already seen

Kristin

Cuter right?!

 

[WaterKat]

I am (impatiently) waiting for the delivery of my mini-flock of Gold Campine chicks to arrive. The brooder is ready, but the waiting is killing me!