Wyandotte chicken

"Wyandottes" redirects here. For other uses, see Wyandotte (disambiguation).

The Wyandotte is an American breed of dual-purpose chicken, raised both for its brown eggs and for its yellow-skinned meat.^[6] It was developed in the 1870s, and was named for the indigenous Wyandot people of North America.^[6] It has many color variants,^[4] and is also kept for showing. It was originally known as the American Sebright.^[1]

Wyandotte

The silver-laced, the original variety of the breed
Conservation status	not at risk[1]
Other names	American Sebright (before 1883)[1]
Country of origin	United States
Use	dual-purpose
Traits
Weight	Male: 3.5–4 kg (8–9 lb)[2] Female: 2.7–3.2 kg (6–7 lb)[2]
Skin color	yellow
Egg color	brown
Comb type	rose
Classification
APA	American[3]
EE	yes[4]
PCGB	soft feather: heavy[5]
Chicken Gallus gallus domesticus

History

The Wyandotte was created in the United States in the 1870s by four people, H. M. Doubleday, John Ray, L. Whittaker and Fred Houdlette.^[6] The first type was the silver-laced, which was included in the American Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1883; it was taken to Britain at about the same time.^{[2]: 311 [3]} It had previously been known as the Sebright Cochin or American Sebright.^[7]: 46 The origin of the breed is unknown; it is thought derive partly from spangled Hamburgs and dark Brahmas^[1] – the Hamburg for the rose comb and the Brahma for the color pattern.^[7]: 46

The gold-laced variant was produced by breeding silver-laced hens with gold-spangled Hamburg and partridge Cochin cocks, the white was a sport of the silver-laced, and the buff variant came from crossing the silver-laced with buff Cochin stock;^[2]: 311 the black variant was also a sport, of both the silver-laced and the gold-laced.^[6] The partridge variety came from crossing the gold-laced with Indian Game, partridge Cochin, gold-pencilled Hamburghs, and a strain called "Winnebago".^[6] The Columbian was the result of a chance crossing of white Wyandottes with barred Plymouth Rock birds; it was named for Columbian Exposition and World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, in 1893.^{[6][2]: 311} The first Wyandotte bantams were added to the Standard of Perfection in 1933.^[3]

In 2015 the breed was listed as "recovering" by the American Livestock Conservancy;^[8] in 2016 it was no longer considered to be in danger and was removed from the priority list.^[1] In Germany it is listed in category IV, "alert", on the Rote Liste of the Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen.^[9]

Characteristics

Silver-laced chick, three days old

Gold-laced hen

The Wyandotte is a fairly large bird, with weights for adult birds in the range 2.7 to 4 kg (6 to 9 lb).^[1] The body is of medium length, broad in the back and with a deep, full and well-rounded breast.^[7] It is clean-legged and fairly close-feathered, and has a broad skull with a rose comb.^[2]: 311 The skin and shanks are yellow,^[6] and the ear-lobes, face and wattles are red.^[1]

Silver-laced cocks may occasionally display hen feathering.^{[10]: 85–86}

In the United States, nine color varieties are recognized by the American Poultry Association: black (1893), blue (1977), buff (1893), Columbian (1905), golden laced (1888), partridge (1893), silver laced (1883), silver penciled (1902) and white (1888).^[3] For bantams, the same nine colors are recognized, with the addition of buff Columbian.^[3]

In Europe, the Entente Européenne lists thirty colors.^[4] The Poultry Club of Great Britain recognizes barred, black, blue, blue-laced, blue partridge, buff, buff-laced, Columbian, gold-laced, partridge, red, silver-laced, silver-pencilled and white.^{[2]: 312–317}

Use

It is a dual-purpose breed, raised both for eggs and for meat. It matures moderately rapidly, and hens are good layers of large brown eggs.^[1] It is a popular show bird, particularly in Germany.^[6]