Heritage Breed Poultry

Here at Appletons we breed many of the heritage breeds of poultry.

Many of these are quite rare now in New Zealand as it is impossible to import live birds and very expensive due to strict MAF regulations and long quarantine times to import fertile hatching eggs, so many of the heritage breeds seen overseas are sadly not found on our shores.

BUT this does not stop us kiwi poultry fanciers from enjoying the breeds we do have here and working hard to improve what we have got...and yes... it takes passion, dedication, time and hard work! Plus those of us that are quietly working away on re-creating some of the breeds that are missing in NZ.... and...those of us that get excited about chicken genetics and are dedicated to creating new breeds or colour varieties....this can take decades and much devotion.

Here in New Zealand we use the New Zealand Poultry Standards as our chook bible and it is to this standard that poultry breeders work and the poultry shows are judged. These days most of the original breeds of poultry are considered rare as it is the poultry enthusiasts that keep the birds and their bloodlines going. Many breeders and poultry clubs work to achieve the NZ breed standard while others concentrate on maintaining the laying ability of the bird.

Heritage breeds can be divided into 4 main categories. These are the 4 established classifications used in the domestic poultry world.

Hard feather: includes the old English game, modern game and Indian game birds.
Heavy breed: due to their heavier frame and used for meat. Many of the heavy breeds are now dual-purpose and used for both meat and egg laying ability.
Light breed: because of their lighter frame and their good egg laying ability.
True bantam: they are not a bantamised version of the light or heavy breeds.

The heritage breeds we have listed below are the breeds we have a passionate about and enjoy breeding or have enjoyed breeding in the past. The descriptions given are from our own personal experiences of the strains of the particular breeds we keep. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we have enjoyed working with them.

So remember if you are looking to keep chooks treat yourself to some of the long established purebreds... they will not only spice up your backyard but... will also lay well for you too!

Light Sussex

Our light sussex hens remind me of elegant ladies in bustle dresses.

This classic bird is a brilliant all-rounder: great layer, excellent table bird (cockerels) with striking looks and friendly temperament. The progeny are early to feather, fast growing and quick to mature. The young pullets and cockerels look mighty fine in their stunning crisp white plumage with their striking black neck hackles and jet black tails. If crossed with ‘gold’ males the light sussex hens will produce sex-liked chicks - very handy if you want to tell your pullets from your cockerels from hatch day. Our light sussex girls have consistently laid well for us; they lay a good sized egg and egg colour can vary from tinted to light brown. They are winter layers and come into the lay early each season and just keep going all season. The light sussex are inclined to go broody as many of the other heavy breeds and make attentive mothers. We find them a delightful breed to keep.

Buff Sussex

The buffs look equally as elegant as the lights and as well marked in their gold attire.

We are delighted with our buff sussex and have found them to be excellent layers of light brown large sized eggs – infact they would rate as one of our best layers! The hens have a very long laying season and if you add early hatched chicks back into the flock each autumn then you can be assured you will have eggs all year round. If comparing buff sussex to light sussex eggs the buffs lay a bigger sized egg and production over the season would be better from th ebuffs than the lights.

This colour variety has been work in progress for us many years now - we originally struggled to source the breed and when we did they had low fertility and hatchability. We are delighted now to have excellent fertility and hatchability and producing some great progeny too. The cockerels are very fast growing, mature early and make good sized table birds. So all round a fantastic dual purpose breed with a wonderful temperament. The buffs are exceptionally friendly, a very easy going breed and would be ideal for anyone with young children as they make ideal pets.

They are inclined to go broody like most of the heavy breeds - this is a perfectly normal process - and if controlled should have little impact on the laying season. Remove broody hens immediately out of the lay pen and place them in a wire cage with fresh water and feed. Do not add any 'creature comforts' like a house and nest box but do provide them with protection from wind and rain. We leave our girls here for a week and then it is back to the laying pen. This works very well for us and we get excellent production from our buff ladies!

Wyandottes

We love our wyandotte ladies. Classy young girls looking racy and sleek before they mature out to be curvaceous laced hens of standing and character.

The ever striking wyandotte with its exquisite lacing (although not all are laced) is another much admired breed. Its popularity is due not only to its looks but also to the fact that it is an ideal dual purpose backyard fowl. The wyandottes history is comparatively young. It was only in 1883 when the silver laced version was finally standardized in America. The breed acquired its name from a native North American tribe called the Wendat (which in time became corrupted and pronounced by the settlers as Wyandotte) After 1883 the silver laced version traveled to British shores and the English poultry fanciers set to work on improving the lacing, ground colour and developing new colour varieties.
We keep the very popular gold laced colour variety. We also breed the white wyandotte with their excellent type, neat rose combs and bright yellow legs.
We have been working with the buff laced and blue laced wyandottes and found the buffs laced to be just as beautifully laced as their gold and silver counterparts. We have bred some gorgeous blue laced silvers...not sure what the colour variation is called...instead of black lacing it is blue on silver.
We enjoy working with the wyandottes (although they are not the easiest to breed to the standard as there are so many points to get right!) we derive much pleasure from watching what new colour variations are going to grow out as the new progeny grow out their new plumage each season.
So a perfect choice for the backyard: great layer, friendly temperament and good table bird (cockerel) and not to mention stunning looking bird!

Plymouth Rock

The ever popular plymouth rock with its big personality and docile friendly temperament is another firm favourite.

This dual purpose heavy breed was developed in Massachusetts, USA in 1820s with the barred variety being included in the first American Book of Poultry Standards published in 1874. This stunning variety with its zebra stripping is an impressive looking bird with the contrasting red single comb and wattles setting off the black and white plumage.
A delightful bird to keep, can be easily tamed. They make ideal pets for children plus we have found them to be amongst our best layers. Our ‘barred rock’ girls are consistent layers of very large tinted eggs. They have laid like troopers all season!

Dorking

Their looks, character and distinctive white, elongated eggs make them a delight to have foraging in our backyard.

This lovely old heritage breed grows on you...as each year passes we love our dorkings even more. We keep the silver-grey variety and enjoy the contract in looks between the cockerels and the pullets. The roosters mature out to be handsome, large bodied, impressive birds that make excellent eating. If crossed with Indian game they make the even better table birds. The hens are very attractive and silver grey in colour and compliment the solid colouring of the males. All dorkings should carry the famous 5 toes on each foot so avoid breeding with any that have less or more. The dorkings have ancient roots going back to the time of the Roman invasion of Britian. Some folk say they were there when the Romans arrived others say they were brought by the invaders – either way the dorking is a very different bird today than it was 2000 years ago! Dorkings love to forage and we have found they lay better if they have daily access to free range. They are hardy birds and the hens make great broodies. We find the chicks to be slow growing and do best if hatched out earlier on in the season.

Barnevelder

If you are after lovely brown eggs then this attractive Dutch breed will lay them for you.

These fine layers were developed in the Barneveld district of Holland and according to some is a relatively new breed emerging in the early 1920s.
Many of the barnevelder eggs these days are more brown speckled than very dark brown in colour. We have noticed that NZ barnevelders do not lay as dark a coloured egg as their overseas counterparts. Also the egg colour lightens over the laying season. We have found the type (shape) of the NZ barnevelder to be lacking in depth and fullness and the double lacing needs continuous work. Due to NZ strict import regulations kiwi poultry fanciers do not have easy access to importing hatching eggs from overseas so have to work with what we have got. We have also found the barnevelders are not as resilient as some of the others breeds we keep, yet saying that, they are still a breed worth preserving for their beautiful brown eggs and attractive double lacing with its beetle green sheen.

Croad Langhshan

We love our gentle giants.

This breed is a very placid, easy going breed and does best free ranging and not being confined. This interesting Asiatic breed was originally brought from China to the Britian by Major Croad in the early 1870’s.The classic U shape between the neck and the tail in the males is characteristic of the breed together with the size of its head which seems smaller in proportion to the rest of its body.
A reasonable layer of brown eggs - some have a plum tinge to them - the hens make great broodies and mums.

Faverolles

This wonderful breed is a delight to behold; with their classic face muffling, feathered legs and big personalities.

This breed is new to our backyard and we are still enjoying getting to know their many positive attributes. They are a French breed originating around 1886 from careful cross breeding to get a high performance dual purpose fowl with good winter laying ability.

Rhode Island Red

There gorgeous deep mahogany red colouring together with their amiable nature make them a great backyard choice.

A fantastic all rounder – great dual purpose heavy breed that makes a great table bird as well as a reliable layer of brown eggs. Our rhodie girls lay consistently, not the biggest eggs, but good sized eggs on a very regular basis. They are all a gorgeous deep magogany red with rich red undercolour and bright yellow legs. We find them to be the ideal beginners bird; robust, friendly and calm birds and make productive backyard chickens. An American breed developed in the middle of the 19th century in pursuit of creating the truly dual purpose chicken. Many, many years of selective breeding for egg production and size finally resulted in the rhode island red.

Leghorn

The leghorn girls are slender, athletic ladies, sprightly in nature and keen to explore.

Leghorns originated in Italy and like most of the mediterranean breeds have white earlobes – a sign of a good layer. They are a very influential breed and were kept as the nations layers before man developed the modern commercial hybrids to become our egg laying machines. The leghorn played an important role in this development due to their prolific egg laying abilities. Leghorns are by nature active, energetic birds that love to go where they choose so happily jump up into trees to roost or jump over fences. They are independent characters but will reward you with lots of lovely big white eggs. We keep both the white and brown colour varieties. The hens are not inclined to go broody – don’t think I have ever had one sit! They are robust birds and ideal to keep if you have the space for them to come and go as they please.

Silver Spangled Hamburgh

My gorgeous polka dot girls!

My all time favourite in the light breeds! These girls might not be very big but they make up for it in personality and beauty. They are great layers and lay a good sized egg for their size. We find they do best if they have access to free range. If you wish to pen them a decent sized run will be required and have it netted over the top as these girls will jump out. The roosters are stunning with their black spangles, long sweeping tails and regal red rose combs. If you can keep a rooster they are worth having around to keep the girls in check! When young the silver spangled hamburghs can be a bit flighty but as they mature into young hens they calm down and become enquiring and friendly. Infact, my pen of breeding hamburghs, is too friendly and rush to meet me when I go to visit them. They are enquiring by nature and a joy to watch. They love to fly and jump up into low branches and trees. They are active and a delight to behold! The origins of the breed are not exactly known. Have been known in Britian for at least the last 300 years but could have originated in Eastern Europe. We keep the silver spangled hamburghs but you can also get a pencilled version.

Campine

Thes little ladies have big personality, striking plumage and are prolific layers.

We keep the golden campines. This is an ancient European breed that was developed in Belgium and takes its name from that region of the country. The interesting fact about this breed is that the males and females look very similar in plumage colour markings. The roosters are hen-feathered as they do not have pronounced sickle feathers or pointed neck or saddle hackle feathers. The roosters are showy fellas and love to strut their stuff and impress the girls. The campine has great character: sometimes aloof, sometimes friendly. Once this bird is comfortable with who you are they will happily approach you. They are alert, active birds and love to forage and free range. If penned make sure the pen is secure and netted over as they will be over and out and exploring in no time .
The campine was developed primarily as an egg layer and we find ours reward us regularly with lots of lovely white eggs.

Welsummer

Aloof ladies in their honey coloured attire.

We have been breeding our welsummers for a couple of seasons now and we are enjoying having them around. The hens are an attractive honey brown in colour and the roosters are not far off the classic farmyard cockerel. They are a fast feathering, quick growing breed and can be easily sexed around 6 weeks of age. We do not find them to be too friendly, rather on the aloof side. The welsummer was developed by a farmer in Welsum, Holland at the end of the 19th century. They are classified as a light breed and are good layers of brown eggs. In New Zealand these are a rare breed.

Pekin Bantam

The perfect feathered family pet.

Pekin bantams come in many different colour varieties. They are a true bantam, which means that their is not a large or standard version of them. In 1860 the British army brought the first buff pekins to Britian from Peking (Beijing). These birds would have been very different from the ones we see today. The original pekins of 150 years ago were taller, more hard feathered and bigger. Todays pekins are best described as round, soft feathered and small with feathered legs. Pekin bantams make perfect garden ornaments. They are not as hard on the garden as the larger standard breeds as their feet are feathered. They are full of personality, friendly and make wonderful pets. They are a reasonable layer of small eggs. The hens make good mothers and regularly go broody making them ideal for using for natural incubation.
We keep the cuckoo, buff columbian, silver penciled and spangle varieties.

Chinese Silkie

Our silkie girls are a comical delight with their boffie hair doos and in their fluffy jump suits!

Unlike all other normal chickens this unusual bird has dark purple skin, five toes, fur-like feathering, top knot and cannot fly. This purple skin is due to the melanotic gene which results in not only their skin but also their bones being black (purple). Their fur-like feathering is not good at retaining heat or providing waterproofing in the same way as ordinary feathers so the silkie tries to avoid getting wet. Silkies are therefore best housed where they have access dry, draught free accommodation if it rains. The silkie is thought to have originated in China many centuries ago. It makes the perfect backyard pet, gentle and calm, and is considered more ornamental than kept for its laying abilities. These hens make the best ever broodies and are often kept just to hatch out chicks and mother them. It does not mix well with other birds and prefers its own breed as company. However, if raised alongside pekin bantams, will happily live alongside them. The silkie although small in build is actually a light breed and not a bantam. Here at Appletons we keep only the White Chinese Silkies, the lovely lady in the photo is from one of our coloured silkie lines that we no longer keep.