Ramelsloher

Ramelsloher
Conservation status
  • FAO (2007): endangered[1]: 52 
  • GEH (2024): extremely endangered[2]
  • DAD-IS (2024): at risk/endangered[3]
Other namesRamelsloher Blaubein
Country of originGermany
Distributionnation-wide
Usedual-purpose, eggs and meat[4]
Traits
Weight
  • Male:
    2.5–3.0 kg[5]: 74 
  • Female:
    2.0–2.5 kg[5]: 74 
Egg colourwhite or light cream[2]: 71 
Comb typesingle
Classification
APAnot recognised[6]
EEyes[7]
PCGBnot recognised[8]
Yellowed engraving of a white cock and hen
Cock and hen, illustration by Hugo Spindler from Bruno Dürigen, Die Geflugelzucht, nach ihrem jetzigen rationellen Standpunkt, 1886

The Ramelsloher (German pronunciation: [ˈʁaːml̩sˌloːɐ]) is a German breed of dual-purpose chicken. It was bred in the 1870s by A.D. Wichmann, a Hamburg shipowner, and is named for the village of Ramelsloh, which lies some thirty kilometres south of Hamburg. In the early twentieth century it was an important utility chicken; in the twenty-first century it is an endangered breed. It is recognised in only two colours, white and buff;[9] there is no bantam Ramelsloher.[10]

History

The Ramelsloher is named for the village of Ramelsloh, which lies some thirty kilometres south of Hamburg, in the landkreis of Harburg, in Lower Saxony in north-western Germany. It was bred there in the 1870s by A.D. Wichmann, a Hamburg shipowner, who selected white birds from the heterogeneous population of local farm chickens of the area and cross-bred them with Andalusian, Cochin and Spanish stock to produce a pure white chicken with slate-blue legs.[2][4] The birds were first exhibited in Hamburg in 1874.[11] A buff colour variant was later developed, but did not become as widespread as the white. It died out in the 1970s, but was re-created from about 1985 using Thüringer Barthuhn [de] and Italiener [de] (German Leghorn) blood.[4][11]

In the early twentieth century it was an important commercial chicken, and became widespread through much of Germany.[11] As with many other traditional dual-purpose breeds, numbers declined rapidly after the Second World War for reasons including the effects of the war itself, the advent of specialised single-purpose layer and meat breeds, and the industrialisation of chicken farming from the 1960s. A low point was reached in the 1970s and early 1980s, but numbers later recovered slightly.[11][12]

In the twenty-first century it is an endangered breed: its conservation status is listed as "at risk/endangered" in DAD-IS, as stark gefährdet, 'seriously endangered', by the Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung [de], and as Category I, extrem gefährdet, 'extremely endangered', by the Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen.[3][13][2] It is included in the Ark of Taste of the international Slow Food Foundation.[14]

Characteristics

three dark buff cocks
Buff cocks

The Ramelsloher is recognised in two colours only, the white and the buff.[9] It has a number of unusual features: the earlobes are bluish or blue, particularly in hens; the beak is bluish with a pale tip; and the legs and feet are slate-blue with white claws.[11] The eyelids are black and the eyes are so dark as to appear black also, a characteristic not seen in any other breed of chicken.[11] The comb is single and red.[11][14]

Weights are 2.0–2.5 kg for hens and 2.5–3.0 kg for cocks,[5]: 74  and ring sizes are 18 mm and 20 mm respectively.[11]

There is no bantam Ramelsloher.[10]

Use

Hens lay about 170 white or light cream-coloured eggs per year; the eggs range from 50 to well over 60 g in weight, with an average of 56 g.[11]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ramelsloher.
  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 c d Ramelsloher (in German). Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen. Archived 30 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b Breed data sheet: Ramelsloher / Germany (Chicken). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed November 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Das Rasseportrait: Ramelsloher (in German). Suderbruch: Vielfältige Initiative zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen. Archived 29 November 2021.
  5. ^ a b c Rassetafeln: Hühner (in German). Reichenbach, Haselbachtal: Bund Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter. Accessed November 2024.
  6. ^ APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties: As of January 1, 2012. American Poultry Association. Archived 4 November 2017.
  7. ^ Liste des races et variétés homologuée dans les pays EE (28.04.2013). Entente Européenne d'Aviculture et de Cuniculture. Archived 16 June 2013.
  8. ^ Breed Classification. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 12 June 2018.
  9. ^ a b Rassen- und Farbenschläge-Verzeichnis des Bundes Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter e.V. (in German). Reichenbach, Haselbachtal: Bund Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter. Accessed November 2024.
  10. ^ a b Rassetafeln: Zwerghühner (in German). Reichenbach, Haselbachtal: Bund Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter. Accessed November 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Schwerpunkt – Geflügel: Ramelsloher (in German). Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen. Archived 26 November 2022.
  12. ^ Ramelsloher Huhn: Das Norddeutsche Blaubein (in German). Berlin: Slow Food Deutschland e. V. Accessed November 2024.
  13. ^ Hühner: Einheimische Rassen in Deutschland (in German). Bundesanstalt für Landwirtschaft und Ernährung. Archived 16 February 2024.
  14. ^ a b Gallina di Ramelsloh: Arca del Gusto (in Italian). Bra, Cuneo: Fondazione Slow Food per la Biodiversità Onlus/Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. Accessed November 2024.