Aug 31 -- one birchen chicken

I have loved learning about animals for so long that I don't often run into something I have never seen.

Here's one. These birds look like a cross between a chicken and an ostrich. A really teeny tiny ostrich. And maybe a vulture, for that naked red head.

I had never seen a chicken that was so long-legged or so lean. Thank goodness my DH thought to tell me to snap a pic of the entry tag for this guy. Otherwise I'd never have known what to google for, to show you some pics of the whole bird. (Having the camera right against the bars made it impossible for me to fit a whole bird in the frame....)


This is a bantam Birchen Modern Game Cock. He stood about 12"-15" tall (about a third of a metre). "Bantam" means a small version of a breed of chicken (there are large size modern game cocks, too, but I didn't see any last Friday).

I've learned a bit about chickens this week. "Game cock" is the body style. I read that after fighting cocks went out of style in England, the competition turned to showing the chickens rather than fighting them. The modern game cock was developed as a very elegant bird intended to do well at bird shows. I read that a single bird might have cost 100 English pounds around 1900. Goodness.

"Birchen" is the coloring, and is a reference to birch trees.

This one really caught my eye -- something very "old soul" about him, I think......











Something else I read, which I abhor, is that the comb and wattles are "trimmed" off the birds to "enhance the elegant line."

I find it more and more revolting that animals are mutilated because people like the look of them afterwards.

My enjoyment of the look of this bird has been damped considerably by learning that he was cut to achieve it! Sigh.