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Nineteenth century chickens

Woodcut of White Dorkings, Poland Fowls, Creoles or Bolton Grays, Cochin Chinas, Gray Game Fowls, Hamburg Fowls, and Bantams

Over on my homesteading blog, I've been reviewing a fun pamphlet about early New England gardens.  In the process, I started looking through images on Old Sturbridge Village's website, and came across this grouping of chickens from 1866 that I just had to share.  The key lists the varieties as follows:

1. White Dorkings
2. Poland Fowls
3. Creoles or Bolton Grays
4. Cochin Chinas
5. Gray Game Fowls
6. Hamburg Fowls
7. Bantams


The artist seemed to like chickens with fuzzy heads --- I have no clue if that was widespread at the time, but it sure looks funny.

The past is fun, but don't forget those modern conveniences.  Our automatic chicken water ensures that your flock has clean water, even if you go out of town for the weekend.



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comment 1

Another apparently popular breed a bit later (1800s) was the java. It is now very rare, but if you can get a hold of some they are suposed to be good egg and meat birds. and are both friendly and good foragers, perfect for homesteader (reason they are so rare, big far industry prefers specialty birds).

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/2002-02-01/Java-Chickens-Back-From-the-Brink.aspx

Comment by Rebecca — at teatime on Friday, March 26th, 2010
comment 2
Sounds like a very good breed for us! I'm still collecting data and am starting to think I may have to try several breeds to see which one forages best on our farm. If so, we'll add Javas to the list.
Comment by anna — at noon on Saturday, March 27th, 2010
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