The Sulmtaler is an Austrian

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

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

, 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 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 ...

with imported

Cochin Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

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. By ...

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 East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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