Thinking About Chickens

Good Breeds vs Good Chickens

*An article from over a decade ago discussing what makes good chickens.*

I wonder how often any of us really stop and think about chickens in general? It seems counter-intuitive, because we are after all “poultry hobbyists”, but I find that few hobbyists actually think about chickens in any general way. We tend to think about “breeds” instead of “chickens”, but the fact is, they are all chickens. Learning to think about chickens in a general sense, and from there, learning to recognize what makes a good chicken is key to becoming a good breeder of poultry. Anyone can purchase a pair of this or that breed and just churn out more and more without much thought or effort. A few will actually work to make some color/pattern and/or form/feathering improvements in their breed of choice, but how many will actually know if those “good examples” of said breed are actually good chickens? I suspect few, because they will have had so little exposure to really good chickens, they have no point of reference.

Breed is an arbitrary word used to classify groups of chickens with similar visual phenotypes. However, “breed” in and of itself does not indicate any actual relation amongst said members. It is important to remember this. While some breeds may have descent from one or a few common, related ancestors, that is actually rare and is probably most commonly found now in breeds like Dominique that nearly became extinct and were revived from a tiny number of existing individuals, likely all related. Some show lines may be very closely related due to the overuse in the past of one or two individuals that did very well in exhibitions. This will be more common though within a given variety of a breed than in the breed as a whole, especially if there are many varieties. A good example is that all Black and White Cochin bantams are likely very closely related, but all varieties of Cochin are probably not so closely related. I would suggest that a variety such as the Partridge Cochin in fact may be more closely related to Dark Brahmas, Partridge Wyandottes and Partridge Rocks than they are to Black, White or Buff Cochins, except in the rare case where extensive outcrossing has been performed between Partridge Cochins and other varieties to increase the levels of fluff in the Partridge variety.

When we get into the hobby, we usually select a breed or two to focus on and then, as with sports teams, political parties and religious affiliations, we are “for” our breeds and “against” other breeds. So, immediately, we have split ourselves up into little groups, and much like high school, we have cliques called “breed clubs”, who’s sole aim is to promote this or that “breed” over other “breeds”. The good chicken is lost in this situation. It rarely is ever mentioned or acknowledged. Of course, it is perhaps human nature to need things defined for us in a small, airtight box from which we need not think further, but how does any of this help us to learn about “chickens” or how to breed good chickens? I would suggest that the narrow focus on “breed” that we see in the exhibition world is antithetical to learning how to breed good chickens. A good example of this is the often-heard phrase, “Well, my breed isn’t known for this or that trait, so that doesn’t matter.” This is something of a copout and often leads to breeding the worst examples of chickens because they were a “good example” of the given “breed”; i.e., it matched the arbitrary standard even though it was a bad chicken on many levels. Breeding “breeds” often leads to breeding bad chickens because the itemized list of standard points are valued higher, in far too many instances, than those traits that make any chicken (of any breed, landrace, cross or otherwise) a useful, valuable bird.

So, let’s think about the notion that given traits don’t matter in given breeds. I often focus on fertility and egg production as important aspects in any breed, not just in production breeds. Somehow, I suppose because too many people are so extreme in their views of the entire universe, people often take what I say about fertility as though I am saying that all chickens, even tiny bantams, should be laying like a production Leghorn, but that is an extreme trait that is actually detrimental to the bird, and is not at all what I am implying when I speak about fertility and egg production as being extremely important traits. What I mean is that any line needs to be able to reproduce in sufficient numbers to both keep the line going and to produce enough genetic variability to make selections and not bottle neck and go the way of the Dodo. I can state that out of hundreds of exhibition lines that I have worked with, very, very few had many good traits and even fewer had a number of those good traits combined into one variety or breed.

So, if your birds are laying 20 eggs a year and you never outcross because it would “ruin ‘em”, how are you going to make any improvement in that line? You have two options. You can outcross to something with better “chicken traits” in order to salvage your line or you can raise a large number of birds from your own line in the hope that there is still enough genetic diversity to allow you to select a few individuals with the traits you need to focus on to make good chickens out of your “good breed”. However, if your birds are bottlenecked, lacking production ability and have low fertility, the later option is out for you, because your birds simply don’t have the capacity to reproduce in numbers sufficient to make the types of selections you need to be making. In other words, your “good breed” is no longer a “good chicken”. All that is left at that point is to nurse your Dodo breed into its grave, or to outcross to a good chicken and hope to salvage some of the traits you like about your breed. If attention had been paid to “unimportant” traits like fertility and egg production to begin with, you would never find yourself in that mess. So egg production and fertility are not important in the way a commercial producer values those traits: i.e., $, but they are extremely important in the long run for keeping any and all breeds going.

Fertility and reproducibility are just one set of traits that are important to making a good chicken. I often speak about the intangible traits as opposed to the purely ornamental traits of color/pattern and form/feathering because it is so easy to see the later and so hard, often, to recognize the former. I can spot a Cochin across a field while driving down the road, or any other breed, for that matter, because I know those artificial constructs that we call breed, but I can not so easily tell you if that same bird has any production ability, disease resistance or calmness unless I spend time with it up close and personal and take the time to document that birds behavior and production over a longer period of time. That is what I mean by an intangible trait; you really can’t see it at a glance. It is for that reason that the intangible traits so often get ignored. People just don’t know how to see those traits, wont take the time to study those aspects of their birds or just don’t care because the intangibles don’t get awarded ribbons (which is a real shame).

There are a few characteristics that are easy to recognize when seeking to evaluate a bird for its qualities as a chicken. Bright, alert eyes is a good sign of health. An absence of noxious odor from the beak is also a good sign of health. Birds that are calm when handled are to be valued. Those that are naturally calm and confident are to be given special consideration, as temperament has a genetic component. Birds that never show stereotypic behaviors such as egg eating and feather-picking/cannibalism are very valuable, as such traits have a genetic basis and selecting birds showing the traits as breeders will see the trait passed on. It is unlikely that you will find a bird that encompasses all the good traits we would hope to see in a good chicken, but they do exist and you might occasionally find one, but if you don’t know what to look for, you are going to miss out on one of the most important chickens you may have ever encountered, and not even know it.

It is much more likely that you will find lines that have some of the desired traits and you will then need to start crossing those individuals to blend the desired traits into one gene pool and that will take time. You can’t just go out and buy “good chickens”, except in a very few rare circumstances. You can buy “good examples” of a breed, but that does not mean you will have bought good chickens. The two things just aren’t the same and beginners should be especially aware of this fact. Usually, if you want good chickens, you will have to make them from any and all disparate individuals that you can locate that have some of the traits of a good chicken. You also should be aware that just crossing two different, unrelated “good chickens” may not give you a first generation of “good chickens”. Many genes may not be allelic and may not match up and there are likely to be recessive traits as well, so do take your efforts on to the second, third, fourth generations and beyond, where you will find more and more good chickens emerging each generation after your original cross and those birds will be related and can reliably reproduce their desired traits, that you have now combined into one line.

Over the next year, I will be writing frequently about the intangible traits, so please consider this article to be an introduction to the subject and preparation for more information to come later. What I would like to challenge each of you reading this to do is to try thinking about “chickens” rather than “breeds”, even if only for a moment or two at a time, and see if it begins to change the way you view chickens, in general. Try to see outside of the notion of breed, as all chickens have a great deal more in common than those focused on breeds might assume. Think about what makes a good chicken in your opinion. Ask yourself what could be improved about your own flock to make them better chickens? Be very suspicious of notions that tell you a given breed doesn’t need this or that particular trait found in good chickens. Ask yourself why that breed got that way, and if anything can be done to change it. Think about what you could do to change it. Ask yourself, “If I were to make a breed, what traits would it need to be a good breed, and would those traits have much overlap with good chickens?” Finally, be on the outlook for good chickens, regardless of “breed”. See if you can recognize such a bird. You will likely only locate individuals, but on rare instances, you might even find an entire strain that all have these traits (hint – some Partridge Wyandotte bantams, some lines of large fowl Rhode Island Red). Even if it is only an unidentified cross that fine exhibitors would derisively call “just a chicken”, if it has some of the desired traits it is far more than “just a chicken”. It is a good chicken. Such individuals are worth their weight in gold and are generally more rare than the rarest of breeds.

For those interested in my daylilies, you can read about my program at my website Sun Dragon Daylilies. You can find the complete list of my daylily cultivar introductions at the website, as well as a section of categories that my introductions fall into, which makes finding the specific things you are interested in much easier. You can also find a page covering the introductions from my program that have high permacultural applications. Finally, to read all the fine details of my program, see my blog, Daylily BReeder, and specifically the Main Page detailing my breeding program.

My poultry books, An Introduction to Color Forms of the Domestic Fowl and An Introduction to Form and Feathering of the Domestic Fowl are available through Amazon.

I offer one-on-one consultation for those who have specific questions or issues in their own breeding programs, and I offer mentoring for those who wish to take their program to the next level.

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