Chicken Breed Focus - Marsh Daisy

[sumi]

The Marsh Daisy breed was developed by a Mr Wright from Lancashire in the late 1800’s. The basis for the strain was the white Leghorn, of which hens were mated to a Black Hamburg male, which produced white rose combed birds. Later infusions of Game and Malay resulted in a strain of hardy and productive poultry. Mr Wright maintained these as a closed flock for thirty years. His stock came in three colours: Partridge, Wheaten and White.

In 1913 a Mr. Charles Moore bought two of the last of Mr Wright’s hens and crossed them to a Pit Game Cock. A male from this mating was then mated back to the original hens. Lastly a Sicilian Buttercup was used and this cross introduced green legs. Buffs, Wheatens and Whites were the original colours produced by Mr Moore, though Blacks and Browns were produced later.

Other poultry breeders started to breed Marsh Daisies and they were first exhibited in 1920. A Marsh Daisy Club was formed in 1921 at which time there were around 200 known flocks. The breed standard was recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain in 1922.

The original five colours of the Marsh Daisy, Black, Brown, Buff, Wheaten and White, are still recognised and it seems likely that the standard has never been updated. It has been suggested that the standardisation had been ‘rather premature’, for the Browns in particular.

The Marsh Daisy today is one of the UK's rarest chicken breeds, rescued from the brink of extinction, they are slowly regaining popularity, though their numbers are still low. With its distinctive rose comb and striking colouring, the Marsh Daisy is certainly a breed worth preserving. A very gentle breed, even the males showing little or no aggression. They are particularly happy in free range conditions, they do not mind rain and are good flyers. They lay reasonable numbers of tinted eggs, laying well into the winter months. The chicks are slow to mature, but make excellent table birds.


Details:

Origin: Great Britain
Purpose: Egg laying
Egg Laying: Good
Egg Colour: Tinted


Pic by DCchicken


Pic by DCchicken


Pic by @stoneunhenged


Pic by @stoneunhenged

BYC Breed Discussion:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/713991/marsh-daisy/0_30

Do you own Marsh Daisies? Are you a Marsh Daisy 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/

 

[GaryDean26]

What stunners! I've never heard of them before but sounds like they'd be quite the bird given their ancestry. Hamburg, Malay, Pit Game, and Buttercup? Even with that icky Leghorn blood in there (sorry Leghorn fanciers, I'm not a fan of them), that sounds like a heck of a bird.

Well there were no commercial White Leghorn in 1880 when the breed was started in the UK. There is a huge difference between a Heritage Leghorn and the modern commercial Leghorns.. Additionally there is a huge difference between English standard leghorns and APA Leghorns. When you think an icky leghorn you are probably thinking of a 3-1/2 commercial layer that lays 300+ eggs in the first year of laying then develops internal issues in the second year of laying and can't produce ever 50 eggs by the third year. You are also probably thinking of a feisty hen that is bossy with other hens int he flock, skittish around humans and other other animals, etc. The heritage leghorns have quite different utilities and temperaments. Although a laying breed leghorn cockerels were raised for meat, the hens if 1880 were more likely to be a 150 egg layer than 300 egg layers and they had longevity to where they would lay for 2-3 times as long as the commercial hens do. The standard for an English Leghorn is for a 5-1/2 lb hen and 7-1/2 lb cocks. That is white a bit different that the 3-1/2 lbs commercial hens and 4-1/2 lb cockerels. Other differences is that the APA leghorn is a bird of curves. It has a curved breast, curved back, curved tail. It has a 5 pointed comb that has the blade horizontal with the horizon. The tail has a fan to to where you can see depth from the profile. Below is an APA style Leghorn (NOT used to create the Marsh Daisy)



The English Leghorn is a breed of angles. It loses the curved back and replaces it with a straigh lined downward slope, it replaces the fanned tail with one that comes to a point, it has a keel line that follows the slope of the back, etc. It also replaces the horizontal blade of the comb with one that follows the line of the neck, and other notable difference including a higher body weight than an APA standard Leghorn. This is the type of Leghorn that would have been used to create the Marsh Daisy.




So...you don't have to be a fan of the Leghorn, but I think that you would find that the 1880 English white leghorn that went into the creation of this breed would be a lot less icky that what your stereotype of a Leghorn is. I am guessing they would have been more inquisitive, more personal, less flighty, less bossy, etc.

 

[QuailKing]

 

[chickengr]

nice birds @QuailKing . I like their colouring.

 

[Wendy High]

Very interesting and entertaining read about the Marsh Daisy.

 

[N F C]

Thanks for bringing us another breed review thread Sumi! I haven't heard of Marsh Daisy's before, hope members that have them add their experiences with them.

 

[chickenshiha]

these look like great birds they will be laying good from what they were bred from like leghorns but will the roosters be a game or a fighting cock from the game they were bred from? and would they be broody like games or non broody like leghorns and buttercups? and of course they would be flightly right?

 

[chickengr]

I have never heard of this breed. I hope people will reply to this thread so we can learn more. these birds are gorgeous. I fell in love with the black roo, he is the most beautiful roo I have ever seen!

 

[Corona~Barb]

Very interesting to see such a rare breed. Hopefully, more responses will come.

 

[capecodcouple]

This breed sounds very interesting to me but I wonder if they would do alright in the cold New England winters? Before I order some chicks I have to know if they are hardy enough.