For exhibition functions, giant hen breeds acknowledged by the American Poultry Affiliation (APA) are organized into six courses. A lot of the courses symbolize the geographic area the place the breeds originated or have been developed. Figuring out a hen’s APA class helps you to infer various issues concerning the breed, together with temperament, laying means, local weather tolerance, and extra.
American Class
The 13 breeds within the American class originate inside america or Canada. Chickens on this class are heavy to mid weight, and the hens are good layers of eggs with brown shells. Their hefty weight plus good laying means make these chickens dual-purpose egg-and-meat breeds.
As a bunch they tolerate chilly climate higher than heat climate. Their chilly hardiness leads to half from the truth that they placed on fats extra simply than breeds in most different courses.
Typically these breeds are typically comparatively calm in temperament. And they’re all good foragers.
Well-liked breeds within the American class embrace Buckeye, Chantecler, Delaware, Dominique, Jersey Large, New Hampshire, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Pink, Rhode Island White, and Wyandotte.
Asiatic Class
The three breeds within the Asiatic class originate primarily from China. They’re feather-legged. They are typically giant, meaty birds. They usually desire cool climates over hotter areas.
Just like the American breeds, the Asiatic breeds are usually docile. They, too, lay eggs with brown shells, though usually they don’t lay fairly in addition to the American breeds. The commonest members of the Asiatic class are Brahma and Cochin.
Continental Class
The 11 breeds on this class originate from European nations aside from these comprising Nice Britain. This class is additional subdivided into three regional teams.
Breeds within the Northern European subgroup hail from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. They’re mid to light-weight breeds, good layers of eggs with brown or tinted shells, and distinctive foragers. Some are flightier than others, and a few are much less tolerant of heat climate. This group consists of Lakenvelder, Barnevelder, Hamburg, and Welsumer.
The Polish subgroup consists of one breed: Polish. Oddly sufficient, the Polish hen isn’t from Poland, however from the Netherlands. This crested breed is available in quite a few colour varieties, in addition to bearded and non-bearded. Polish chickens are good layers of eggs with white shells. They’re a docile breed that does finest in a temperate local weather.
Well-liked breeds within the French subgroup embrace Crevecoeur, Faverolle, Houdan, and Marans. Hailing from France, they’re all heavy breeds. In any other case they’re a combined bag as to laying means, egg shell colour, temperament, and local weather tolerance. That is one case the place a hen’s APA class doesn’t inform you a lot concerning the breed.
English Class
The 6 breeds within the English class originate from Nice Britain and Australia. They’re heavy breeds that are typically extra chilly hardy than warmth tolerant. Most English breeds are primarily dual-purpose chickens, being good layers of eggs with brown or tinted shells. Among the many hottest English breeds are Australorp, Orpington, and Sussex — all docile.
The stand-out on this group is the Cornish breed, which may typically be aggressive. The hens are reasonably poor layers, though each genders make glorious meat birds. The Cornish breed is the premise for Cornish-cross meat hybrids.
Mediterranean Class
The 7 breeds within the Mediterranean class originate from Italy and Spain. They lay eggs with white or calmly tinted shells and vary in laying means from glorious to poor. In addition they vary in measurement from light-weight to heavy.
As a bunch the Mediterranean breeds are extra warmth tolerant than chilly hardy. They are typically fairly excessive strung and fewer prone to brood than most different breeds.
Then again, they’re glorious foragers which, mixed with their excellent means to evade predators, makes them notably appropriate without cost ranging. Well-liked Mediterranean breeds embrace Leghorn, Sicilian Buttercup, and Spanish.
All Different Customary Breeds
A last catch-all class is All Different Customary Breeds (AOSB), which incorporates people who don’t handily match into any of the opposite 5 courses. These 13 breeds are additional divided into three subgroups.
The primary subgroup is Video games, consisting of non-Oriental sport fowl from Nice Britain. Best in reputation is the Previous English breed. Initially developed for cockfighting, this light-weight breed could be flighty and typically aggressive. The hens are reasonably poor layers, however are excellent broodies. The Previous English breed is lively, hardy, and an distinctive forager with outstanding survivability expertise.
The second subgroup is Orientals, despite the fact that the breeds on this group don’t all come from jap Asia. Well-liked amongst them are the Aseel from India, Cubalaya from Cuba, Phoenix developed in Germany, Sumatra from Indonesia, and Yokohama from Japan. These breeds should not particularly good layers, however are inclined to make good or glorious broodies. Due to their various origins, they vary extensively in egg shell colour, temperament, measurement, and local weather hardiness, making them tough to characterize as a bunch.
The third subgroup is Miscellaneous, consisting of those disparate breeds: Ameraucana from america, Araucana from Chile, Bare Neck from Romania, and Sultan from Turkey. Laying means varies, and shell colour ranges from blue to white to brown. Broodiness ranges from honest to unlikely. Measurement, temperament, and foraging means additionally range. Nevertheless, all breeds on this group are light and docile.
A Rooster’s APA Class
A hen’s APA class can present hints about a number of the traits you possibly can count on of the breed. Nevertheless, it’s essential to notice that not all breeds, and never all strains or people inside a breed, will match the breed’s important class profile. Nonetheless, by figuring out the hen’s APA class as listed within the American Customary of Perfection, you possibly can typically infer various issues concerning the breed which will make it easier to select probably the most applicable chickens in your yard flock.
And that’s at this time’s information from the Cackle Coop.
Gail Damerow has written various poultry-keeping books, together with The Rooster Encyclopedia.
