Barnyard Roosters

on the farm

Color, Form & Pattern

It is widely believed that all domestic breeds of chickens are descended from red junglefowl. However, take a look at this buff laced polish frizzle and you might find that hard to believe. Just how could these genes be hidden away in a bird that for the most part looks like the bird above? You might ask, what else is possible?

Early poultrymen in the New World blended the European and Asiatic races of fowls to create the Plymouth Rock, the ideal of a general purpose fowl; the Wyandotte, an earlier maturing bird of the same type; the American Leghorn, the most popular laying type; and the Rhode Island Red, the most popular dual purpose fowl, prized for its brown egg productions and a favorite for the table.

The American Standard of Perfection, first published in February of 1874, demanded harmonious developement of all characters and qualities of all recognized breeds. It listed 41 breeds, each distinguished by size, plumage color, comb type, skin color, number of toes, amount of feathering, earlobe color, egg color, as well as place of orgin. Todays edition lists nearly 60 and is the official breed standard for the poultry fancy and is used to judge at sanctioned poultry shows.

Todays finest genetic hackle can be traced back to these poultry shows. Henry Hoffman found a trio of barred Rock bantams at a show in Oregon and went on to develope the finest grizzly hackle on the market. At the same time, Harry Darbee, and later Andy Miner, were working to perfect dunn hackle. However, they took a much different path by starting with a flock of blue Andalusians, a large fowl mediterranean breed. The orgins of badger can be traced back to Colombia Rocks.

		Roosters - Capes & Saddles
		$25These are earth tone colors, all natural, just as they come off the bird. Scroll over the thumbnails to swap the image on the left or click on a thumbnail to open a window for a larger image. grizzlies browns dunns badger & furnace saddles   grizzly lt grizzly dk grizzly rusty grizzly bleached grizzly grizzly splash grizzly variant lt variant dk variant dunn grizzly dk dunn grizzly lt dunn grizzly     brown cream ginger barred ginger dark barred barred splash red dark furnace pale furnace brown laced ginger laced honey laced     grey dunn tan dunn ashey dunn sandy dunn charcoal dunn splash dunn black white color color color color     silver badger golden badger dunn badger furnace greenwell cock-y bondhu     grizzly brown cream lt ginger dk ginger furnace black white rusty dunn sandy dunn charcoal dunn lt cream silver badger golden badger speckled badger dk badger cream badger grey dunn variant

		Rooster Capes - Bright Colors
		$25These bright colors have been dyed on white, grizzly, and badger capes. Scroll over the thumbnails to swap the image on the left or click to open a window for a larger image. on white on grizzly on badger fly patterns   red yellow orange chartruese yellow chartruese green purple pink salmon peach         red red on dark red on light red on variant chartruese ch on dark ch on varient pink pink on dark pink on light lt chartruese on dark on light orange on dark on light       These are some badger variant capes that have been dyed bright colors. red pink chartruese yellow chartruese chartruese on ginger red on broken badger   I'm looking for flies to post here, so if you have any, please email me a picture and the recipie along with any notes on tying it and I'll post it. Email me if you have any questions, Thanks, David fly fly fly fly fly fly

Large Fowl and Bantam Lines

Many breeds of chickens have a bantam counterpart. Bantams are miniture chickens, usually one-forth to one-fifth the size of the standard or large fowl. A true bantam has no large fowl counterpart and is naturally small.

The name bantam comes for the city Bantam, once a major port in Indonesia. European sailors prefered live fowl for long sea journeys and would stop there to restock. They were fond of the small native breeds that had become plentiful in that part of the world. As such, any small poultry came to known as a bantam.

		Full Skins
		If there's a favorite you're looking for, give me a call. large fowl roosters bantam roosters hens blue andalusian red pile andalusian silver laced wyandottes pale blue andalusian splash blue andalusian speckled sussex silver penciled rock barred rock speckled sussex dark brahma   bb red cream lemon blue cream lemon blue cream lemon blue cream item item   barred rock speckled sussex speckled sussex speckled sussex speckled sussex

Back in the late 50's, Henry Hoffman attended one of these shows and selected a pair of Barred Rock Bantams that would become the genetic foundation for the dry fly hackle of today.