Text: Elly Vogelaar Photos: Aviculture Europe for Decades the Kraien- Köppe Bantam Existed Only in Silver Partridge and Partrid

Text: Elly Vogelaar Photos: Aviculture Europe

Left: Robert Hoornstra with a Kraienköppe bantam cockerel in the latest variety: silver crele.

For decades the Kraien- köppe bantam existed only in silver partridge and partridge. Recently a number of new colour varieties have been created and more are being developed. One of the breeders that devote themselves to creating new colours is Robert Hoornstra. We noticed that he is also a very enthusiastic promoter of these new varieties at many Large Shows all over the country. This is very important, as the Dutch poultry specialist Van Gink already stated in 1964: “Your creation is a success when it also attracts the interest of other fanciers; that is of importance for its continuation and spreading”.

All was positive on the day that we visited the Hoornstra Family in the Friesian village De Pol; no files thanks to spring holidays, it was a bright sunny day and what a picturesque view we came upon when arriving! Horses in the meadow, chickens, pigeons and children playing in the yard… It was as if we were looking at an old ‘schoolplaat’ by Jetses (School plaat = a hard backed poster depicting a workday scene from 'Normal Life') or an illustration from the ‘Ot en Sien’ school booklets, with similar pictures depicting 'Normal' life in a Village, "Feeding the Chickens", Father Digging the Garden", a Visit to the Grandparents" etc. from a time now often referred to as ‘the good old days’. The Twentse krielen (Kraienköppe bantams) that the Hoornstra Family breeds are – just like their large counterpart – one of the “regional historical cultural heritage” breeds. Robert has kept chickens since childhood, starting in 1976 when his parents rebuilt the house; there was a lot of timber left and his mother supported the idea of using that for constructing a loft and a coop. Soon he had purchased several animals to occupy the coops; pigeons, rabbits and various chickens. That included also some Kraienköppe bantams, and these beautiful birds with their game-like appearance became his favourites. In 1983, being a Junior member of the local club in Ruinerwold, he won his first trophy. Then came the time that he had to enlist and although his mother took care of the chickens and pigeons, the quality of the birds had fainted when he enlisted, and so had a great deal of his interest. Later, when living on his own, he had a colleague who wanted to get rid of some chickens. They happened to be Kraienköppe bantams, his favourites! So no need to think, he gladly took over a trio and several chicks, in silver partridge and partridge. This time he promised to himself to be more serious and immediately joined the Twentse Hoender Club (Kraienköppe Club). One evening at a meeting someone had brought settings eggs for a member who didn’t show up, so Robert could have them. From these eggs a few white bantams hatched; these whites were the start of creating new colour varieties. He didn’t know a thing about the procedure to have new varieties recognised, so he worked together with Conno Vlaardingerbroek, chairman of the Twentse Hoender Club. Blue Partridge, Blue Silver Partridge and Pile were created, followed by Yellow Partridge. Silver crele is also recognised since January 2009 and Crele is about to, hopefully in 2010.

In the meantime he got married and moved again, to his present home. His wife Christa enjoys the chicken hobby as much as he does and he can be sure that she will care for the birds when he is away at work. That is the power of the hobby here, that they do it together. The Twentse krielen or Kraienköppe bantams H.J. Ziemerink from Almelo, the Netherlands, was the fancier who started creating the Twentse krielen (Kraienköppe bantams). He started several years before World War II. After he passed away his birds went to C. ten Cate from Wierden, who completed the job by –probably – crossing in English Game bantams. The new bantams were first shown at the 1941 Young Birds Show of the Eastern Bantam Breeders in Enschede. From the start they were perfect miniatures of the Large Twentse; according to old books their weight was some 200 grams less though than the today standard weight.

Kraienköppe bantam are slender built bantams, in which – in spite of some Game Fowl characteristics – the original landfowl type is still recognisable. The Game blood influence is mostly seen in the head and comb, but also in the proud, upright carriage. The head is not so keen as in English game, but broad and somewhat beetle browed, the comb is a walnut comb. They have orange red eyes, a short yellowish beak, red earlobes and short wattles. The neck is carried upright and slightly forward. The breast is broad. The wings are well developed and carried a bit downwards at the cocks. The body is straightened with a slightly downwards sloping back; the flesh is firm in handling. The back is the broadest between the shoulders, but the shoulder butts do not show prominently as this would spoil the slender looks of the bird. The cock has a fairly abundant tail with long, nicely bowed sickles and rich tail coverts. The main tail feathers are spread and the tail is carried rather low. At the female the back line is more horizontal and also the wings are carried horizontally. The hen’s tail is less spread and carried almost flat. In both cock and hen the plumage is rich but close. A fault in the cock is a too sparsely feathered tail. The neck hackles should not be too long, so that the shoulders would show. The internationally known poultry expert Mrs. Annie Banning-Vogelpoel used to state: “Broad at shoulders and slightly beetle-browed are highly valuated in this bantam breed”. The yellow legs are strong with visible shanks, however never stilt. The standard weight for males is 1000 to 1100 grams and females 800 to 900 grams. Ring size: male 13 mm and female 11 mm. Kraienköppe bantams are now (2009) recognised in seven colour varieties: Partridge-UK/Light Brown-US, Yellow Partridge-UK/Cream Light Brown-US, Blue Partridge-UK/Blue Light Brown- US, Pile-UK/Red Shouldered White- US, Silver Partridge-UK/Silver-US, Blue Silver Partridge-UK/ Blue Silver- US and Silver crele.

Left: Partridge cockerel.

Just as in the Large Fowl, the first recognised variety in the bantams was the silver partridge. The cocks are mainly black with silver (white) markings at the head, neck hackles, saddle and shoulders. Also the wing triangle is silver. The pullets are silver grey with fine peppering and they have a salmon breast. The old fashioned name ‘Twentse Grijzen’ (Twents Grey) relates to the colour of the hens. The second recognised variety was the Partridge. Some breeders still use the old names Twentse Grijzen and Twentse Bruinen (Twents Brown), but since more colours are recognised it is best to use the proper name Twentse Hoenders (Kraienköppe) or Twentse Krielen (Kraienköppe bantams).

Left: Blue partridge cockerel.

Above right: A pile hen. Left: Yellow partridge cockerel.

Originally the breed was kept in the Region Twente, East in the Netherlands and the German border. It was and still is very popular in Germany, as well. The German name for the breed is Kraienkopp (crow head), not because the head of the Twentse Fowl looks like the head of a crow, but because they crow so much!

Above left: Silver partridge. Above right: Blue silver partridge.

Left: Silver crele.

Robert on his animals Due to their looks Kraienköppe bantams are thought to be very fierce, but that is not so, according to Robert. Anyway he never would use a too fierce cock in the breeding pen, as character is also hereditary. He even dares to say it is a tame breed, although the exception proves the rule. You can for instance feed the birds wearing a green coat and nothing happens, but when wearing a blue coat, one of the cocks might tilt. He laughs over it, it is sure to come right.

He has large chicken houses where many cockerels are kept together and that goes well, as long as you don’t disturb the hierarchy. Long ago he had Sumatra bantams, now those were fierce! That is not the reason why he quit the breed; that was because he couldn’t improve his birds. In those days he tried to found a Specialty Club for the Sumatra but got no cooperation whatsoever. Left: Very broody, all of them!

The Kraienköppe bantams are very good layers, probably because in the past the Leghorn was once crossed in. Different from the large Fowl, they do get broody very easily. One would say this is a disadvantage, but people who want to buy a few backyard chickens are often pleased if they can

breed chicks without having to use an incubator. Thus they would say this is a positive characteristic.

A variety of Large Fowl is outside in the yard. “Those are all old birds”, Robert says. “During the 2004 bird flu, dairy cattle breeders in the region were not allowed to keep chickens, so the birds were welcomed here. The Hamburg hen was wandering at the moor, and those over there are hybrids”. I look in the pointed direction but don’t see the ‘common’ brown birds. “The barred ones”, he elucidates, “In the neighbourhood we have a commercial layer breeder who likes to ‘make’ something different, only 200 to 300 birds, for the local people. You have to order early or else you miss it”. Apart from the poultry they breed Jack Russells in different varieties. There are horses, better said, two ponies and two Fjord horses that Christa likes to ride, but that are also very suitable to carry a (hooded) cart. Thus the Family regularly takes a ride around the beautiful countryside. Furthermore there are the fancy pigeons; we made a separate photo report on that subject.

Breeding There are 21 breeding pens for the bantams; some are bred one to one, others in groups of up to 8 hens, with a rotating cock. Sometimes the cock is left with the hens for a week, sometimes for a month. Christa takes notes at a calendar when a new cock is placed in the pen; she is used to register things like that, as she is a farmer’s daughter and it is done in the same way with cows i.e. To make sure the chicks are from the ‘new’ cock, the eggs are not collected for the next ten days. They have been keeping records for 15 years now. He still has a few white bantams – and a few in cuckoo – but the others are all in a partridge variety. Separate pens for cockerel and pullet breeding are not necessary in this breed; this makes breeding less complicated. In the old days, when the breed was recognised in only two colour varieties, this was a must. But according to the new standard description the hackle marking doesn’t need to be that sharply defined, so correctly marked cockerels and pullets can be bred from the one and same breeding pen.

Still the partridge varieties are not easy to breed. Pile (in Holland called: white partridge) is his favourite colour and is easier to breed close to perfection, compared to partridge. You cannot breed pile x pile for years in a row; every few years you have to cross back to partridge to maintain the wanted colour shade. Advantage of these ‘tuned’ varieties is that in principle he doesn’t need many cocks; for instance partridge can go with partridge, blue partridge and sometimes pile.

Caring In former years he had his setting eggs incubate via the Club, but now he has his own incubator. The first 100 chicks have hatched and he will continue till he has 200 chicks. That goes fast, as sometimes the results are 98%! As the Union leg rings – with a unique number – are too large to use directly after hatching, the little ones first get a leg ring for canaries, three weeks later that is replaced by a parakeet ring and again later by a pigeon ring, then finally by the Poultry Union ring with, which cannot be removed from the leg when the bird has matured.

He doesn’t vaccinate against Marek or Infectious bronchitis, as he thinks selecting is the best way to get a strong and resistant line. Also no wormers or anti coccidiosis are used. Against red mites he has used Dutchy’s® - predatory mites that feed on other species of mites. It works but is rather expensive. Now he uses the ‘old fashioned’ mix of methylated spirit and soap. Against lice at his birds he uses Parasita® (ivermectine). When the chicks are in his hands for ringing with the ‘second’ ring, he also gives them one drop of Parasita behind the neck. As litter he uses hemp bed; a very absorbent bedding material manufac- tured from the soft centre of the hemp plant. Each 4 weeks all is cleaned out and renewed. There is no problem with disposing as it decomposes quickly. The absorbent quality is very good for the chickens, but in summer it can get so dry that cleaning out is bad for the owner! So by way of precaution he wears a dust- proof mask. Robert is working at the Agrifirm Coöperative, a large animal food producer. This gives him the possibility to mix his own chicken feed or add something extra like Provimax®, which enlarges the egg shell quality. Why not make hay while the sun shines! Consequently he never has problems with the eggs shells of older hens used in the breeding pens.

Showing Showing is an extra dimension of the hobby, but the better part is keeping chickens around the house, he says. Showing is mostly done to show the new varieties to a large public. 12 Exhibitions per year; almost all national Shows, the Specialty Club Shows and of course the show of his local Club PKV Steenwijk. The many trophies and certificates of honour prove that he has quality birds, both chickens and fancy pigeons. Some examples are winning Best of Ornithophilia Show and Giesbers Prize at Avicultura Show (that was with one of his pigeons) To him the most honourable prize is winning Best Collection of Show with his Twentse krielen at the 2007 Oneto Show. Something to be proud of, as a ‘winning collection’ proves you have a line of quality chickens and not just one top bird. He always takes a day off to bring his birds to the exhibition, often bringing along pigeons from fanciers in his neighbourhood. Only the Piles are washed before entering at the show; the other colour varieties are only checked for a miscoloured feather and all get some oil rubbed on their comb.

Breeders’ Club The Twentse Hoender Club was founded March 1985 with the aim to maintain and improve this living piece of National Heritance. Recently a new flyer has been made, to be spread over National Museums. Brotherly spirit is high on the list and comes before winning prizes. Recently Robert was appointed Secretary of this Club.

A handful of club members apply themselves to creating new colour varieties in the bantams, like Crele, Salmon and Cuckoo. These colours existed long ago in the Large Twentse Hoenders, also Whites and Blacks.

Right: A crele cockerel. Robert still has a few white bantams, but they are refused for recognition. “Don’t ask me why”, he says, “They are turned down by the Entente Européenne; they would look too much like Wyandotte bantams or Yokohama bantams”. Indeed Yokohama bantams were once used to create the white Twentse bantams, but they definitely don’t have that long tail, which is the main characteristic of the Yokohama. The present point of view of the Breeders’ Club is to limit to the partridge varieties. The Crele will hopefully be recognised at the Noord Show (National Poultry Union Show) of January 2010. The aim is to parade with 8 recognised colours in 2010 at the Oneto Show, where the European Special Show will take place to celebrate the 25th Jubilee of the Breeders’ Club. In connection with this European exhibition, the chairmen of the German and Swiss Breeders’ Clubs have visited at Robert’s and Christa’s at Easter. It is very positive that in Germany the standard description is the same as in the Netherlands, only the number of recognised colours is smaller, but the German fanciers are working on that as well. Robert doesn’t know how things will develop. He also has some cuckoo bantams, but that is not a ‘partridge variety’. Salmon is, so maybe one day those could be standardised? To complete: Robert is also a board member of the Colour Pigeons Breeding Club.

To end with While leaving we admired the beautiful painting with Twentse Hoenders on the front wall of their house. Robert told us that they brought in a request at the Dutch Rare Breeds Foundation to become a registered Breeding Centre of the Twentse Krielen (Kraien- köppe bantams). It is their Ideal, but he has no idea how strict the rules are. We would surely agree if their request would be granted. The breed couldn’t possibly find a better ‘home’ than this idyllic place with these two devoted and skilled fanciers. Robert and Christa, thank you for the tour and good luck to you and all your plans!

The Twentse Hoender Club http://www.twentsehoenders.nl/

Sonderverein der Züchter der Kraienköppe und Zwerg-Kraienköppe (Germany) http://www.kraienkoeppe.de/