Breed Origins Thread

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Breed Origins: Orpington (chicken) and Australorp
The egg-machine that looks like a broiler.
Orpingtons wer originated in Kent, England, just before the hen fever years, by a Mr. William Cook. Cochins, Lincolnshires, and Dorkings were the basic makeup for this breed. Buff was the first color, for to cash in on the 'fad' at the time for yellow poultry (Mr. Cook would later start the first breed of duck which main color is Buff, the Orpington). In quick succession, Black, Blue, Splash, and others were started to cater to fanciers who may have distasted Buff and to secure his breed. When the Queen's Brahma's started the Hen Fever of the mid-1800's, Black Orpingtons would become hugely poppular, with the fluffiest specimens gaining the most fancy among poultrimen. Mr. Cook foresaw the day when this shallow display of esthetic breeding would degrade his favoured breed to nothing more but a picture bird.

(Not long after) in Australia, when Orpis were imported, the Blacks again became most favoured, however, they were bred as a high-production bird. As a result, the Australorp was born. This is similar to the story of the Redcap, how, over time, a strain becomes the entir breed, while the origin breed changes completely...

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

Breed 'Origin': Brahma
The Queen's chicken.
This is the breed commonly associated with having started the Hen Fever. It is a Landrace from China. It was originally (the Silver Penciled; the original variety) known as the Gray Chittagong, and then the Shanghai, and then the Brahma Pootra, finally shortened to just Brahma. George Burnham was a chief early breeder of these fowl, and sent a crate of them to Queen Victoria as a means of promoting his work, and apparently, that is what inadvertently started the hen fever. The poor fellow didn't quite get what he figured!

 

[maybejoey]

Red jungle fowl are the believed origin of all chickens.

 

[NYREDS]

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Saw your several responses. Not sure if you're kidding or serious. Either way you're hilarious.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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Saw your several responses. Not sure if you're kidding or serious. Either way you're hilarious.

Well, I wasn't joking, but I don't try to be boringly serious. That's right: I'm an Either.

 

[Eggs-quisite Eggs-cursion]

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I like the name. Surely you didn't name it after that giant of the Industrial Revolution, Sir Henry Bessemer, after which the Bessemer process was named?

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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I like the name. Surely you didn't name it after that giant of the Industrial Revolution, Sir Henry Bessemer, after which the Bessemer process was named?

Actually, it was named after the Breed of Duck, which I named after a Ghost town nearby where I live, which was named after the Bessemer Process, which was named in honor of Sir Henry Bessemer. Er, did you get all that?

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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That's correct. So are Ceylon Junglefowl (Birchen gene/Longtail gene) and Grey Junglefowl (Yellow Skin gene/Blue Egg gene)
Gresh and I had an extensive conversation about this on the thread posted in my signature below. I think it's on page 4, starting on post #39, & continuing on #43 and #44. Warning: there are overtones in that conversation that may and have offended some. You don't have to report it, it's already been reported and halted. But you can read over it if you're interested.

 

[Eggs-quisite Eggs-cursion]

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Yep. Bessemer is a lovely name and, along with the features of the breed, can make is a more desirable choice than, say, a chicken breed named after a person who committed nefarious deeds.

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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Yep. Bessemer is a lovely name and, along with the features of the breed, can make is a more desirable choice than, say, a chicken breed named after a person who committed nefarious deeds.

I don't know of any breeds named after the less reputable; what breed(s) do you mean? Or is that just an example?