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The Bielefelder Kennhuhn () or Bielefelder is a German
breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...
of domestic
chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...
. It was developed in the area of
Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...
in the 1970s by Gerd Roth, who
cross-bred A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...
birds of
Malines Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...
and Welsumer stock with American
Barred Rock The Plymouth Rock is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was first seen in Massachusetts in the nineteenth century and for much of the early twentieth century was the most widely kept chicken breed in the United States. It is a dual-pu ...
s to create the breed. Like other breeds with Barred Rock parentage, it is
auto-sexing Auto-sexing breeds of poultry are those in which the sex of newly-hatched chicks can be determined from the colour and markings of the down (feather), down. Some breeds of chicken, of domestic goose, goose and of domestic pigeon have this char ...
– chicks of different sexes can be distinguished by their colour. There is a bantam version, the Bielefelder Zwerg-Kennhuhn.


History

The concept of an auto-sexing chicken breed goes back to the work of
Reginald Punnett Reginald Crundall Punnett FRS (; 20 June 1875 – 3 January 1967) was a British geneticist who co-founded, with William Bateson, the ''Journal of Genetics'' in 1910. Punnett is probably best remembered today as the creator of the Punnett ...
in the 1920s and 1930s. The Bielefelder Kennhuhn was developed in the 1970s in the area of
Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...
, in
Ostwestfalen-Lippe Ostwestfalen-Lippe (, literally ''East(ern) Westphalia-Lippe'', abbreviation OWL) is the eastern region of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, congruent with the administrative region of Detmold and containing the eastern part of Wes ...
in the
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
of
Nordrhein-Westfalen North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
. It was created by Gerd Roth by
cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...
of birds of
Malines Mechelen (; ; historically known as ''Mechlin'' in EnglishMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical context. T ...
and Welsumer stock with American
Barred Rock The Plymouth Rock is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was first seen in Massachusetts in the nineteenth century and for much of the early twentieth century was the most widely kept chicken breed in the United States. It is a dual-pu ...
birds. It was first exhibited in 1976 as the Deutsche Kennhuhn; in 1980, when the breed was recognised by the , the name was changed to Bielefelder Kennhuhn. In 2007 its
conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...
, as reported to the
DAD-IS DAD-IS is the acronym for the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System, a tool developed and maintained by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as a part of its programme for management of animal genetic resources for ...
database of the
FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...
, was "not at risk". It is not among the endangered chicken breeds listed by the
Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen The or GEH is a German national association for the conservation of historic and endangered domestic animal breeds. History The GEH was founded on 5 December 1981 in the Rottal, in Lower Bavaria in southern Germany. It has about 2100 membe ...
.


Characteristics

The Bielefelder was initially bred in one
colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...
only, crele (German ) – the cuckoo pattern with black-breasted red colouring. A silver variety (German ) was later created; it shows the same patterning as in the crele variety, but without any red or yellow colouration. It is a new colour, not seen in any other breed. Like other breeds with Barred Rock parentage, the Bielefelder is an
auto-sexing Auto-sexing breeds of poultry are those in which the sex of newly-hatched chicks can be determined from the colour and markings of the down (feather), down. Some breeds of chicken, of domestic goose, goose and of domestic pigeon have this char ...
breed – chicks of different sexes can be distinguished by their colour.


Use

The Bielefelder is dual-purpose breed, well suited to extensive management. It is fast-growing and yields a good carcass. Hens may give about 230 large brown eggs per year, with an average weight of about Bantam hens may give about 160 eggs per year, with an average weight of File:Poule de Bielefeld SDA.jpg, Hen File:Coq de Bielefeld.jpg, Cock File:Poule Bielefelder naine.jpg, Bantam hen File:Bielefelder naine.jpg, Bantam cock


References

Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in Germany Auto-sexing chicken breeds {{poultry-stub