Chantecler
ChickenRare breed
The Chantecler was developed in Quebec in the early 1900s specifically to get through Canadian winters, and it shows: a tiny cushion comb and short wattles give frostbite almost nothing to take hold of, under unusually dense plumage. It is genuinely dual-purpose, laying 150 to 180 brown eggs a year through months when other breeds stop, on a well-fleshed frame. Temperament is calm and the birds tolerate confinement, which matters where winter means months indoors. The same coat that makes it a winter bird leaves it labouring in real heat.
Weight
Large fowl (Standard size)
Bantam (Miniature size)
How to spot it
- Comb
Cushion - Very small cushion comb, sitting almost flush to the skull
- Wattles
- Small and short, deliberately reduced against frostbite
- Plumage
- Dense and deep; white and partridge are the standard varieties
- Look for
- An almost comb-less profile on a solid, heavy-bodied bird
Ancestry
How this breed was developed. Historical records, not crosses to make today.
Begun in 1908: a Dark Cornish male over a White Leghorn female, and a Rhode Island Red male over a White Wyandotte female, with selected pullets from the second mating bred to a White Plymouth Rock male. The Cornish side has no breed record here.
Varieties
White
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