All About Chicken Breeds

Chickens come in two basic sizes. These are standards and bantams. Below is an explanation to these terms:

A standard breed of chicken is the same as a large breed. They are larger than bantams and lay larger eggs. These are often a good choice for people who want to sell eggs or those that have enough space. Standards can easily be kept in the back garden situation (I do) but some people prefer to keep bantams because of their small size.

Examples include:
Sussex
Welsummer
Brahmas
Jersey Giants
Wyandotte

All meat and laying hybrids

A bantam is a small chicken. Bantams are also sometimes refered to affectionately as banties. Some keep them due to space restrictions, others say they have better personalities, but they do lay eggs that are about half the size of a large or standard sized chicken. The birds are about 1/4 of the size of standard chickens.

Diminuative bantams:
A diminuative bantam is a bantam that has a large counterpart. Not all large breeds have a diminuative version but most do. All diminuative bantams have a large counterpart.

Some examples include:
Sussex
Silkie (In USA there are only silkies that are part way between large and bantam. In the UK and Europe there is both the standard and large breeds)
Welsummer
Barnevelder
Wyandotte
Leghorn
Wyandotte.

True Bantam:
This term means a bantam which has no large counterpart.

Some examples include:
Serama (smallest chicken in the world and similar in size to a 330ml coke can)
Japanese
Belgian
Old English Game Bantams (also known as OEGB)
Pekins (Americans refer to them as bantam Cochins even though they have many differences)

ALBC stands for American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The website is: http://www.albc-usa.org

Their classification for what each term means is below:

• Critical: Fewer than 500 breeding birds in the United States, with five or fewer primary breeding flocks (50 birds or more), and globally endangered.
• Threatened: Fewer than 1,000 breeding birds in the United States, with seven or fewer primary breeding flocks, and globally endangered.
• Watch: Fewer than 5,000 breeding birds in the United States, with ten or fewer primary breeding flocks, and globally endangered. Also included are breeds with genetic or numerical concerns or limited geographic distribution.
• Recovering: Breeds which were once listed another category and have exceeded Watch category numbers but are still in need of monitoring.
• Study: Breeds which are of interest but either lack definition or lack genetic or historical documentation.

RBST stands for Rare Breeds Survival Trust. The RBST was founded in 1973 and operates only in the UK. Since it's founding no livestock breed has died out. The website is: http://www.rbst.org.uk

Their classification for what each term means is below:

• Critical: <100 breeding females

• Endangered: Up to 250 breeding females

• Vulnerable: Up to 500 breeding females

• At Risk: Up to 1000 breeding females

• Traditional: Up to 3000 breeding females

General Breeds Links

http://www.feathersite.com
Lots and lots of pictures submitted from people around the world of every breed you've heard of and more.

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
This is Henderson's Breed Chart. It has only one picture of each breed and then gives information on rarity, class and type, egg size colour and productivity, how much the hens weigh, comb type and skin colour, broodiness, hardiness, how fast they mature and their behaiviour.

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/poultry/
Another site like Henderson's Breed Chart. Slightly more wordy.

http://www.kippengrabbelton.be/engels/
Click on 'choose your breed' for a page which will take into account several different options (large or bantam, flighty or not, number of eggs, calm character).

Rare Breeds Conservation

http://www.albc-usa.org
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. They stop livestock breeds, including poultry, from becoming extinct. USA only.

http://www.rbst.org.uk
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust. They do what the ALBC does, but in the UK. Since they were set up in the 70's, not a single breed of livestock has become extinct in the UK.