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    Know Your Chickens
    Know Your Chickens
    Know Your Chickens
    Ebook99 pages36 minutes

    Know Your Chickens

    By Jack Byard

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Know Your Chickens covers over 40 popular breeds of chickens, showcasing their history, personality, egg-laying and flying abilities, and more fun facts. With this little book in hand, you'll be able to impress your friends by identifying any chicken you happen to encounter!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOld Pond Books
    Release dateDec 1, 2020
    ISBN9781912158690
    Know Your Chickens
    Author

    Jack Byard

    Jack Byard is a former mechanic, jewellery craftsman and school technician. He is retired and now lives in Bradford. The popular "Know Your" series includes Know Your Sheep, Know Your Cattle and most recently Know Your Bees

    Read more from Jack Byard

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    Reviews for Know Your Chickens

    3.5/5

    5 ratings2 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Cute book! Wish it was bigger!
    • 4/5
      What a wonderful reference guide for the chicken people out there! Here is a small but meaty book describing 44 different breeds of chickens. Each breed has a three page spread describing the physical characteristics of that type as well as it's history, place of origin, personality characteristics, egg laying statistics and a full color picture. For people who are interested in owning chickens or those who already do, this is a handy reference to help you decide what types would work best for your special conditions. This is not a book to tell you HOW to raise or breed chickens. If I have one complaint, it is that all (or most) of the pictures are of the rooster of that breed. It would be very helpful to have a picture with both the rooster and the hen together for comparison purposes. Otherwise, I found this book to be extremely informative and it will be an easy book to recommend to patrons in our particular library where we have a growing number of chicken raisers.

    Book preview

    Know Your Chickens - Jack Byard

    1Ancona

    Characteristics

    Colour: Midnight blue with bright V-shaped white speckles.

    One of the oldest breeds of chickens, the Ancona was bred for centuries in the Marche region on the east coast of Italy. Fortunately it was spotted by a group of poultry enthusiasts and arrived in the British Isles in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. It was also known as the Mottled Leghorn or Black Leghorn since its beautiful patterned plumage gives it a strong resemblance to that breed. The feathers whiten with age.

    This tough, hardy bird is extremely popular in Europe since it can adapt easily to a range of environments. It is an efficient scavenger and has a great instinct for finding food. It is also well known for its egg-laying abilities; it is quite common for one bird to lay three hundred white eggs a year. As a result of this range of attributes the breed has flourished. The high-flying Ancona must always be bred free range but kept within a high fence to prevent it from disappearing.

    It is no longer used commercially but is bred for the pleasure it gives, still having a firm place in domestic flocks and at poultry shows throughout the British Isles, Europe and the USA.

    2Andalusian

    Characteristics

    Colour: Slate-blue with narrow dark blue lacing on each feather.

    This ornamental bird was developed in Andalusia, and further developed in the British Isles and the USA. The modern blue Andalusian is a result of crossing black and white birds imported from Andalusia, Spain, in 1846. Crossing two blue birds will result in 25 percent black and 25 percent white, with the remaining 50 percent of the clutch blue. The Andalusian is therefore only bred by enthusiasts with an interest in preserving the breed. The development of the breed as we know it today is credited to the English, but whether this was achieved in Andalusia or in England is not known. A number of people have nailed their names to the mast including John Taylor of Shepherds Bush, London and the Duchess of Dartmouth.

    The Andalusian has a magnificent presence, being both elegant and graceful (the reasons most people give for keeping them). It is also an extremely fast runner (the breed society suggests anyone wishing to keep the birds should invest in a landing net). One bird will lay around 160 creamy white eggs a year.

    Originally from Andalusia in Spain the breed is now found throughout Europe, the British Isles, the USA, Canada and Australia.

    3Appenzeller Spitzhauben

    Silver Spangled

    Characteristics

    Colour: Silvery white with a lacy bonnet; feather tips have black dots (spangles).

    Also Gold Spangled, Black Spangled and Barthuhner varieties.

    The Appenzeller – the national chicken breed of Switzerland – originated in the Canton of Appenzeller, where it is thought to have existed for over four hundred years. The bird’s comb is similar to a traditional pointed lace bonnet from the area: a

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