The Sulmtaler is an Austrian

breed A breed is a specific group of 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 several slig ...

of domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

. It originates in the Sulmtal, the valley of the Sulm river, in southern

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

, in the south-east of Austria, and takes its name from that valley.

History

Like the Altsteirer, the Sulmtaler derives from the country chickens raised in Styria, particularly in the Kainachtal, the Lassnitztal, the Sulmtal and the Saggautal. In the second half of the nineteenth century these were subjected to massive cross-breeding with imported

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

and

Houdan Houdan () is a commune of the Yvelines department west of Paris in the north of France. History The name has evolved from the Saxon "Hoding," meaning "settlement on the hill". Houdan is thought to have been inhabited since the 5th century. B ...

stock to create heavy meat birds for fattening. In about 1900 some breeders brought together the small remaining stock of chickens of the former type, and the original breed was reconstituted.

Characteristics

Sulmtaler is a hardy dual-purpose breed, kept both for eggs and meat. Cocks weigh and hens Hens are non-sitters, and lay 130-180 eggs of about 55 g in weight per year. The Sulmtaler is raised almost exclusively in the gold wheaten colour variety, and this was the only colour standardised in 1958. A white variety was created in the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Silver wheaten and blue wheaten varieties were accepted in Austria in 2013. Silver-blue wheaten is not yet accepted.

References

{{reflist, refs= Sulmtaler
(in German). Arche Austria. Accessed August 2014. Breed Classification
Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 12 June 2018. Chickens
Poultry Club of Great Britain. Archived 9 November 2018. 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. {{nobreak, p. 281–83. Original Auszug Aus dem Geflügelstandard / 7. Überarbeitete Auflage: Sulmtaler
(in German). Sondervereins der Steirerhuhnzüchter Österreichs. Accessed August 2014. Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in Austria