Phoenix chicken

Phoenix
A golden hen and cock, showing typical long flowing plumage
Conservation status
Other namesGerman: Phönix
Country of originJapan; Germany
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    • Standard: 2.0–2.5 kg[3]: 71 
    • Bantam: 800 g[4]: 70 
  • Female:
    • Standard: 1.5–2.0 kg[3]: 71 
    • Bantam: 700 g[4]: 70 
Skin colouryellow
Egg colouryellowish white[3]: 71 
Comb typesingle
Classification
APAall other standard breeds[5]
ABAsingle comb clean legged
EEyes[6]
PCGBnot recognised[7]
APSlight breed softfeather[8]
Illustration from the Geflügel-Album of Jean Bungartz, 1885

The Phoenix is a German breed of long-tailed chicken. It derives from cross-breeding of imported long-tailed Japanese birds similar to the Onagadori with other breeds.[9]

History

The Phoenix breed was created by Hugo du Roi [de], the first president of the national German poultry association, in the late nineteenth century. A few delicate imported long-tailed Japanese birds were cross-bred with birds of other breeds including Combattant de Bruges, Krüper, Leghorn, Malay, Modern Game, Old English Game, Ramelsloher and Yokohama.[9]

The Poultry Club of Great Britain decided in 1904 to group the German Phoenix and Yokohama breeds under the name Yokohama; the Phoenix is not recognised as a breed.[10]: 324 [11]: 340 

In the twenty-first century it is an endangered breed: its conservation status is listed as "at risk/endangered" for Germany and Australia, with 344 and 387–400 birds respectively, and as "at risk/vulnerable" for the United States, where in 2015 there were 1579 birds.[2][12]

Characteristics

The Phoenix is recognised in six colours in Germany: gold, silver, orange, black, white and partridge;[13]: 28  a further three unrecognised colours are listed by the Entente Européenne.[6] The silver variety was accepted into the Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1965; the gold was added in 1983, and the black-breasted red in 2018.[9] The Phoenix was first accepted in the Australian Poultry Standard in 2012, with any colour standardised in Old English Game accepted.[8]

The Onagadori is thought to have a recessive gene that prevents it from moulting each year in the usual way.[14]: 991  This gene was not transferred to the Phoenix, so its tail does not reach the same remarkable lengths as that of the original Japanese stock. The tail may reach 90 cm or more.[15]

Use

The Phoenix was bred as an exhibition bird. Standard-sized hens lay about 45 yellowish-white eggs per year, with an average weight of 48 g;[3]: 71  bantam hens lay approximately 120 eggs annually, averaging 25 g in weight.[4]: 70 

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phoenix (chicken).
  1. ^ Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b Breed data sheet: Phönix / Germany (Chicken). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed November 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Rassetafeln: Hühner (in German). Reichenbach, Haselbachtal: Bund Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter. Accessed November 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Rassetafeln: Zwerghühner (in German). Reichenbach, Haselbachtal: Bund Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter. Accessed November 2024.
  5. ^ APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties: As of January 1, 2012. American Poultry Association. Archived 4 November 2017.
  6. ^ a b Liste des races et variétés homologuée dans les pays EE (28.04.2013). Entente Européenne d'Aviculture et de Cuniculture. Archived 16 June 2013.
  7. ^ Breed Classification. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 12 June 2018.
  8. ^ a b Australian poultry standards (2 ed.). Ballarat, VIC: Victorian Poultry Fanciers Association Limited trading as Poultry Stud Breeders and Exhibitors Victoria. 2011. p. 121. ISBN 9781921488238.
  9. ^ a b c Phoenix Chicken. The Livestock Conservancy. Archived 21 June 2024.
  10. ^ Victoria Roberts (2008). British poultry standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 9781405156424.
  11. ^ J. Ian H. Allonby, Philippe B. Wilson (editors) (2018). British Poultry Standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain, seventh edition. Chichester; Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 9781119509141.
  12. ^ Transboundary breed: Phoenix. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed November 2024.
  13. ^ Rassen- und Farbenschläge-Verzeichnis des Bundes Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter e.V. (in German). Reichenbach, Haselbachtal: Bund Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter. Accessed November 2024.
  14. ^ R. Tadano, M. Nishibori, M. Tsudzuki (2009). Genetic structure and differentiation of the Japanese extremely long-tailed chicken breed (Onagadori), associated with plumage colour variation: suggestions for its management and conservation. Animal Genetics 40 (6): 989–992. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2009.01955.x. (subscription required).
  15. ^ Carol Ekarius (2007). Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. North Adams, Massachusetts: Storey Publishing. ISBN 9781580176675. p. 143–44.