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MICHIGAN STATE FAIR
POULTRY
Bantams

Breed Characteristics

  • Bantams are typically bred for color and form rather than to produce eggs or meat.

  • Colors include: blue, spangled, and white.

  • They make excellent pets since they are easily tamed and are content in small areas.

  • Bantams should be small. Generally, adult bantams will weigh between 16 and 30 ounces.

  • Feather color often changes at birds mature.

Araucana

Breed Characteristics

  • This chicken originated in Chile, South America.

  • The breed is mostly known for its blue eggs.

  • The Araucana has remarkable feathering around the face.

  • It is defined as being rumpless, meaning no tail.

Leghorn

Breed Characteristics

  • The skin color is yellow.

  • They get their name from the city of Leghorn, Italy, where they originated.

  • A small and noisy bird.

  • They are capable of considerable flight.

  • The most numerous breed we have in America today.

  • Noted for egg productions.

  • Have relatively large head furnishings. 

 

Wyandotte

Breed Characteristics

  • This breed has a yellow skin color.

  • Their eggs are a brown color.

  • They are used for both meat and egg production.

  • This breed originated in the United States during the end of the 19th century.

  • Have many different color patterns.

 

Rhode Island Red

Breed Characteristics

  • Varieties include single comb and rose comb.

  • Their skin color is yellow.

  • Their egg color is brown.

  • Used more for egg production than meat production.

  • This breed originated in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

 

Plymouth Rock

Breed Characteristics

  • This breed has a yellow skin color.

  • They produce brown colored eggs.

  • Its popularity came from its qualities as an outstanding farm chicken: hardiness, docility, broodiness, and excellent production of both eggs and meat.

  • They originated in the United States in the 19th century.

 

Polish

Breed Characteristics

  • These chickens have a white skin color.

  • They hatch white colored eggs.

  • This breed originated in Eastern Europe.

  • They have a crest (some also possess a beard and muffs), are small, tightly feathered birds, fairly active despite restricted vision due to their large "head gear."

  • They are strictly an ornamental fowl.

 

Cornish

 

Dutch

Breed Characteristics

  • Dutch chickens are hardy, active, and lively.

  • These gentle and quaint little birds often display attachment to their owners and are characterized by their smallness and elegance.

  • Indications are that Dutch birds were first imported into the United States shortly following World War II.

  • Dutch bantams are very small birds with the male weighing less than 20 ounces and the female weighing less than 18 ounces.

  • The head of both sexes are pronounced by a medium sized single comb, and by the presence of medium sized white earlobes that are almond shaped.

Breed Characteristics

  • This chicken has yellow skin color.

  • It produces brown colored eggs.

  • It has developed into the ultimate meat bird.

  • It originated in Cornwall, England.

  • The Cornish has a broad, well-muscled body and its legs are of large diameter and widely spaced.

  • The feathers are short and held closely to the body, and may show exposed areas of skin.

  • Cornish are movers and need space to exercise and develop their muscles.

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