true american breeds?

[johnnyjack]

how do you consider a breed american when most came from other countrys . or they were cross breed here in the usa to make a new breed.im not being smart here just wanted to know what the answer would be.when america started out the indians where here what did they have?

 

[hcammack]

I guess it means it was started on this contenent no mater Where the parent stock came from. Euroean chickens all came from Red Jungle Fowl in asia so are all chickens asian?

 

[KingsCalls]

Are you American? Most of our past kin are from other countries also. Half of mine are original Americans....Cherokee Indian.....The other half are from German and Irish decent.
I was born here so, am I a true American? But........many generations ago someone came over from Germany and Ireland!!! I consider my self a true American.

 

[digitS']

Johnnyjack, the native people in North America didn't have chickens before Columbus.

As far as crossing one breed with another, there's something known as hybrid vigor (heterosis) which amounts to the added performance you get when mating parents of different breeds. When you drive around in cattle country, that's why you are seeing lots of mixed herds.

Everything else being equal: It's not only that the mixed calves gain weight more quickly, which means they bring in more $$, but the mothers of mixed parentage bear larger calves and produce more milk for them. Breeds of anything become genetically isolated so I guess this hybrid vigor would be true with chickens, also.

It must have taken chickens a long, long time to make it from Asia to Europe. But then with ocean travel, the Europeans got a whole new bunch of Asian breeds a couple hundred years ago. Now, it is interesting to see that a number of American breeds are popular in Europe. What has probably happened is that breeders world-wide, who have paid attention to the quality of their birds, have made lasting contributions.

Steve

 

[NYREDS]

Breeds in the APA American Class are:
Rhode Island Reds, Rhode Island Whites, Plumouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Dealwares, Dominiques, Javas, Buckeyes, Chanteclers, Jersey Giants, Lamonas, New Hampshires and Hollands.
These breeds were developed here, in their current form, from birds brought here from Europe & Asia.
Native Americans did not have chickens untill they were brought here by European settlers.

 

[cgmccary]

Actually, there is mounting evidence that South American landraces predated Columbus by several centuries. For instance, the Rapanui & the Araucana. Either the Chinese beat Columbus to the New World or the Polynesians spread them there before European discovery & colonization.

Polynesians brought the Red Jungle Fowl to Hawaii about a thousand years ago, where it is called the Moa (its own subrace there).

That being said, there were no chickens in North America before Columbus. The American breeds mentioned by NYREDS are still distinct breeds. I believe the Dominique was the first American breed. It is really hard to get good, genuine Dominiques anymore.

Some American breeds did get dispersed to other countries, like the RIR but others, like the Buckeye are still found only in North America.

 

[johnnyjack]

lol i learn more everyday .