Chicken Breed Focus - Brakel

[sumi]

The Brakel or Braekel chicken breed is one of the older European chicken breeds. Its history dates back to 1416, when it was mentioned as a successful poultry breed of the Brakel region, in Belgium, from which it took it's name. Brakels are similar to the Campine breed, which originated in Antwerp in the northern part of Belgium. Brakel and Campine females look very similar, but Brakel males have normal cock feathering, whilst Campine males have hen feathering which distinguishes the two, together with subtle differences in weight, the Brakel being the heavier of the two.
Two distinct types of Braekel were recognized in the past: the large type living on rich clay soil Flanders, and a light-weight type from the less fertile region, the Kempen. Due to crossbreeding between the different types, this distinction vanished, resulting in a single type.
Old names for the breed are "The Everyday Layer", "The Grey White Neck" and "The Nuns Hen".
Details:

Purpose: Egg production
Egg laying: 180-200 white eggs annually
Weight: Cock - 7 lb; Hen - 6 lb
Colours/Varieties: Silver; Gold (Standardised in the UK)








All pics by @SimonV

BYC Breed Discussion:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/846278/brakel-and-related-breeds-thread/0_30

Do you own Brakels? Are you a Brakel 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/

 

[SimonV]

The hens are calmer than Campine hens,they are very friendly and like to run in your way when you are in their pen.
They get very tame when you use treats an if you are calm around them.
I now have 4 roosters of this breed, but still have my original one to.

 

[SimonV]

Can this be a bantam as well? I have a banty rooster that I don't know what he is.

Nope,not a brakel Bantam unfortunately
This is a golden Brakel Bantam

 

[Croamagna]

I raise brakel here in Texas and love them. They are very reliable layers and the roosters are very protective. Pretty flighty and not one for human friendship much but great free rangers. Most of the year here they don't even eat chicken food as they stay busy foraging all day.

 

[chickengr]

I have order a brakel pullet. the reason is these chickens are too beautiful so I must have at least one. the breeder is not willing to sell more than 1 female and I already have 7 males of different breeds.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Can this be a bantam as well? I have a banty rooster that I don't know what he is.

That is a Silver Duckwing Old English Game Bangam cockerel... or SDW OEGB for short...

 

[Penny Hen]

Looks a lot like an Egyptian

I was reading an article that speculated that their color pattern might indicate that they were related to the Egyptian Fayoumis. The Crusades ran roughly from the 11th Century to the 15th Century. All the campaigns resulted in bringing new breeds of animals, plants and goods back to Europe where they made an impact on the agriculture and trade. Rarely did enough of one animal come that it could be established in purity but instead was bred with a native breed and new breeds or an "upgrade" of the breed was obtained. For instance, the reason that the Percheron horse (a heavy draft breed) has such a delicate Arab like face (in comparison to other heavy draft breeds) is thought to be the result of captured Arabians that were brought back to France during the Crusades.

I have not read of more recent (this has been a theory since the 1970's at least) studies that now can include DNA analysis that can prove relationships between populations. If anyone else has please post links. Medieval agriculture history is a passion of mine.

 

[Amer]

Looks like a Silver Crele Leghorn with dark legs...cool

But not really at all...
Because autosomal barring. And birchen based. It’s surprising just how much the barring on the silvers looks just like sex-linked barring though. That must be hard to achieve.

 

[BDutch]

I know a breeder in the Netherlands who breeds the normal sized and bantam Brakel (siver laced and golden ). He selects for shows and really look great. Within Eu he can send eggs through the mail.

I almost bought eggs for hatching bc they are really beautiful, but also found them rather big and skittish compared to the naine Tournaisis he is breeding too. So I bought Tournaisis (Doornikse krielen) from him.

P.s. If you want to read more about the Brakel / Breakel do read the article in the link. It has loads of pictures.
http://www.aviculture-europe.nl/nummers/11E04A05.pdf

 

[JessHeller]

Looks a lot like an Egyptian