Westphalian Deathlayers (Westfälische Totleger)

[Sylvester017]

@3riverschick - thx for your research info. Everyday-Layer is a much nicer term.
My Dominique pullets were "everyday-layers" too heehee!

 

[Namrag]

Anybody know the life expectancy for these birds?

 

[Sylvester017]

My guess on life expectancy is like any other chicken breed. Except rarer imported breeds with low gene pool diversity in the USA may lessen the hardiness and life expectancy of any of the rarer breeds. Black Hen Farms rescue says a chicken can live up to 25 years but that's a stretch IMO. Most flock owners say 8 to 12 years is an average lifespan for a chicken. But I've had some breeds live less and some live more depending on diet, living conditions, climate, reproductive issues, etc.

 

[PDXJULES]

I got one of the eggs in a generous Purebred Potluck assortment from GreenfireFarmsLLC in N Idaho. Day 18 now. They breed 2 colors. If i get a Cockerel - someone in the Portland area will have a good DL daddy! Glad to know they are Greenfire lines genetics btw.

 

[allgr8dogs]

There were a lot of old european breeds that never made it over our way and it would be almost impossible to import them now..but if you could find out what breeds it ook to create them , you might get close to creating them.

some old time european breeds became extinct during the 1st and 2nd world wars . we started a post on this subject a while ago.

One of the breeds we were talking about was the polet de bresie (sp) or blue footed chicken supposed to be the ultimate table bird , a breeder in calif, and a few in canada have them but absolutly will not sell. they are reserved for 4 star resturants. I think that was the name of the bird...it has been a while since we talked about it.Its just impossible to get one here.

I wonder if you're referring to the French Bresse chicken. They're considered to be the only chicken suitable to feed the president of France. They have steel blue legs and come in white, blue, splash and black. Just a word of caution though about purchasing American Bresse from the Bresse Farm - they're very disorganized at best. I ordered 6 Black Bresse and ended up with 4 chicks - white, blue, splash and black. I think the food they sent was actually scratch. They did eventually refund me for two chicks. I just ordered white American Bresse from Sandhill Preservation, so we'll see how that goes.