[Sca-cooks] Period Chicken breeds

[Marcus Loidolt]

Could anyone provide me with information on chicken breeds available in 
Europe during our time period (date and place would be a plus)?  And if 
yo know of any such breeds, is there any source where I could get them 
around NYC?  We're trying something, just for fun here: comparing 
several types of chicken using one recipe (Markham's excellent way to 
cook chicken) for flavor comparison.


So far, we think we'll be trying Chinese silk chicken, a free-range 
chicken, a commercially produced chicken, a Cornish game hen or a Guinea
 hen, and possibly a "period breed" of chicken, if such a bird exists.


Regards,
Brekke


Benedicte, 
I apologize for being so tardy in my response!!  Yes, time and place are crucial to your choice of birds! There is probably over 20 breeds of chickens that trace their bloodline to the Middle Ages and before, but you must pay close attention to not JUST names, but to body shape, feather patterns and social standing...
(Warning, modern Corning game hens, ARE modern chickens, they are simply Corning Rock crosses slaughtered at 8 weeks of age...not a separate species...IF that was what you were aiming for...) 

England pre- Conquest -Dorking, Redcaps, Dunghills.
England post Conquest, post Crusades- Houdans or in Kent, Leghorns

France, Dorkings, Houdans, Crevecours Bresse,

The Low Countries, Dorkings, Campines, Hamburgs, 

Spain, White Faced Spanish, Blue Andalusians, Minorcans/ Castillians 

Italy, Leghorns, Dorkings, Post Crusades/ Paduans 

Sicily, Leghorns, post Norman invasion, Sicilian Buttercups

German lands, Dorkings, Hamburgs, Campines Spitzhaubens, Turkens, Styrians, 

Venice, IF Patriarchial status, Cochins post Polo, and from Constantinople



check out www.feathersite.com for a complete listing!!


Master Johann von Metten, OL
Poultry Laurel from the Middle
elevated by HRM Edmund and Kateryn III 2001
Barony of Sternfeld, Indianapolis.

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