Chicken Breed Focus - Maline

[sumi]

The Maline, a.k.a. Mechel, or Brussels chicken, is a bird of impressive size, with males often reaching 12 pounds and the hens 8 or 9. It was originally developed in the late 1800’s primarily as a production meat bird, in the Mechelen area of Belgian, from where it derived its name. It was the most popular meat bird in Belgian by the late 1800's and was exported to much of Europe. The breed is a good choice for the small flock owner or homesteader, as they are actually a good duel purpose breed. They are an exceptional quality slow growing table bird, as well as good layers, with the hens averaging 150+ large light brown eggs a year.

The Maline is generally a very gentle bird with a calm and stable temperament. They are not overly skittish around people and are amiable to being handled. Being such a large heavy breed, they do not fly well so are fairly easily contained and they do very well in confinement. They are a very hardy breed and are quite cold tolerant.

Breeds that went into the producing the Maline included the native Flemish Cuckoo breed, as well as Brahmas, Cochins, and Langshans. A second type of Malines was later developed by crossing Malines with the Brüges Games, a very large Belgian game fowl, and this cross produced what is called the "Turkey-headed Malines". (These birds have heads that resembles that of a turkey)

The Maline is today found primarily in the Cuckoo pattern, though white, black, golden cuckoo and other colors do or did exist.

Details:

Breed purpose: Excellent meat bird, Dual Purpose
Comb Type: Single
Broodiness: Average
Climate Tolerance: Hardy, cold tolerant.
Weight: 12 lbs roosters, 9 lbs hens.
Egg Productivity: Fair, 150 eggs/year
Egg Size: Large
Egg Color: Tinted / Light Brown



Maline Chick, picture @Shellz


Maline Hen, picture @Bart Nagel


Maline Hens, picture @Bart Nagel


Maline pullet, picture @Shellz


Maline rooster, picture @stoneunhenged


Maline hen and rooster, picture @stoneunhenged

We do not have any breed reviews for the Malines yet, if you own any, please let us know your likes/dislikes? Link to the BYC Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/belgian-cuckoo-malines

Link to the General breed discussions & FAQ threads:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/800185/belgian-malines-have-arrived/0_20
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/862591/belgian-cuckoo-malines-next-generation/0_20


Do you own Malines? Are you a Maline 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/

 

[Denwendairy]

Our Malines pullets...tough to take shots of because they immediately come to inspect the camera looking for treats!!

 

[Our Roost]

Hello from the U.S.A. My name is jack and I hail from Michigan. I currently own and raise the Cucou De Malines. AKA several known names Such as Mechels and many more based on region. Our homestead is called Jalocha hen farms and "no" we do not currently have a web site. I waited near 3 years to acquire hatching eggs from a Canadian breeder and am mostly thankful. The hatch result was terrible and I worked with minimal numbers to breed with this spring. In fact, I ended up with 3 hens and 1 rooster.This year I hatched out 15 birds and all are healthy. This breed has less than a handful of owners in the U.S. Very, very difficult to have any success with these birds without future bloodlines. The rarity of this breed is such that more than just numbers is needed. Fortunately I have 2 bloodlines of old line and newer line stock. The process to prevent inbreeding issues is of major concern. Future stock would have to come from Belgium. Currently, All owners including Canadian based stock are from the same source including GFF and myself. What I am saying is the process to rescue this breed is a slow process but gaining momentum with some help from friends abroad! You cant just order more birds to replace your old ones or the ones you have eaten! This breed is a delectable table breed worth saving. It needs interested and dedicated owners that are willing to put forth the effort of taking the proper breeding care to keep it in existence and no others! This isn't your typical heritage breed, its on the critical to non existing list in the U.S.A. I am working on preserving what have and also creating a utility breed using the malines as the workhorse to create it.
If you have interest in chatting, send me a private PM. or post on this web page.

 

[Shellz]

I really did over react.lol I'm bipolar and the doc has me on two new meds. Still working on dosage.
ANY how. If anyone has a link to historical data are information on the growth characteristics of this breed I'm dying to know MORE!!

No harm done.

There really isn't much in the way of historical data. I had a heck of a time finding all that I could too. I learned a lot about traits though, through googling images of Malines in other languages. Like coucou de Malines & mechelse koekoek. Interestingly enough, the Dutch & Germans have better pics overall than the French. Just an observation. Click on an image & check out their page. You can use google translate to get a better understanding. I'm only fluent in English. You can also try these keywords to find some good sites. There's a 'translate this page' option after most items in the list. I waded through a lot of stuff! It was just my luck that the only breeder in Ontario at the time, was just 2 1/2 hours away. I jumped at the chance in 2013 to pick up some hatching eggs. That fall, we had the onerous task of culling all the hatchery stock I had raised. They were pitiful as meat birds, although the Golden-laced Wyandotte cockerel was pretty good! Anyway...the rest is history & I could go on all day!

A couple of links below about history & such. There's also a news item I don't have the link for just now. The Special Club for Malines in Belgium entered into an agreement with the largest poultry abattoir, Belki, to supply them pure Malines for the finest restaurants & I believe fine markets as well.

http://users.telenet.be/jaak.rousseau/english version/grote_hoenders/mechels_hoen.htm
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/06E01A07.pdf

Here are some pics of my current chicks at 5 1/2 & 6 1/2 weeks old. I only hatched 8 this year. Downsizing for personal reasons.

 

[Shellz]

There is no Standard of Perfection in North America for these birds, as of yet. I've heard you can try to show them in the 'other' class. Problem is, a judge most likely won't know how to judge them. If more people brought them to the show circuit, I'm sure it would pave the way for a standard to be drawn up. Or at least, adopt the European standard for this breed. Breeders here are following the European standard which can be described in the following links. It's important to note this is a utility breed and should remain so, to retain its delectable merits.

http://users.telenet.be/jaak.rousseau/english version/grote_hoenders/mechels_hoen.htm

http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/06E01A07.pdf

I've had a lot of chicks hatch with yellow traits in my start with them, but most faded by puberty. I had enough numbers to eat the few undesireables & breed the rest. The yellow traits became less & less of an issue in succeeding generations. I believe most breeders in Canada now, have eliminated or nearly eliminated the yellow traits in their stock. Certain other faults can be corrected as well. If one has a hen with sparse leg feathering, you can pair her to a rooster with plenty of leg feathering. The progeny will surely show some good results. That hen can then be used as an egg layer & never need to be bred again.

What breed anywhere doesn't need some work? It seems that's why we have breeders - to continually work & improve the stock they have. There is no 'perfect' chicken anywhere. We're all working towards perfection, but really, is there such a thing? It's what keeps all of us going.

 

[hcrichton]

We just got Malines. They seem to have the fowl neck birds as they can turn their heads 360 degrees.

I obtained a barred rock rooster but once we got him we saw he has feathers on the feet and now suspect he is either cross with Malines or is a malines with someone assuming he was barred rock. Also the chicks I hatched from this rooster half of the chicks were hatched with feathers on their feet.

We went to a local show looking for barred rock chicks and found Malines. After talking with the breeder we decided on the Malines for their size and temperment. My cousin is also getting malines and mainly for the same reasons. We do have plymouth rock breeds and rhode island reds but will built to just malines in the future.

 

[N F C]

Handsome birds! Looking forward to reading what members have to say about these.

(I'm really enjoying the breed focus articles...please keep them coming!)

 

[Tomtommom]

From the looks of it, they're a lot bigger than barred rocks. Can't just go by the color of the feathering... if that was the case Australorps, Jersey giants, black copper Marans and black Orpingtons would all be the same bird too.. which they are not.

 

[Shellz]

The Malines seem to have a better following in Canada. More attainable here & better pricing. I've been raising them for just over 2 years now. They're an excellent meat bird, but I'm not continuing with this breed after this fall. I've found that with a rare breed, more bloodlines are needed to keep their vigor up. I acquired a second bloodline, but I am unable to breed these birds in numbers that would help improve them. I currently have a 2 year old rooster who probably weighs over 12 lbs. Can't say for sure, as I haven't weighed him since he was a cockerel. Lovely, large & docile fowl. Very meaty & tender if you don't mind waiting 16 weeks to 6 months to grow out. Can be free ranged right up to harvest time with no sacrifice in tenderness. No special diet needed...15% grower ration is all that's needed to put the meat on these birds. Higher protein feeds won't help them. We like roasts, so one cockerel will feed the 3 of us for 2 days, plus makes great soup stock. They are the best foragers, so free range is best or a predator-safe, large yard will do. I truly hope there are others willing to work with this breed & have the resources to do so. Best meat bird going!

The last chicks I'll be raising.

Some hens.

My breeding rooster with 2 hens.

Unfortunately, my breeding rooster lost half his comb to frostbite during a particularly frigid winter in 2013/14.

Something else of note...the hens don't make for good broodies. Please use an incubator or other broody breed to hatch Malines chicks.

 

[Shellz]

"...a good isolation that the fat spreads into the meat and between the muscles which forms a tasteful juice when the bird is cooked. In birds that don’t have this extra isolation, the fat forms a distasteful layer between the skin and the meat. "

Just want to clarify...the word 'isolation' was probably meant to be 'insulation'.

I think we're even now Our Roost.

Lol!