Jan Voets Said. and I Fully Agree; to Me This Summer-Time Visit F

Text: Elly Vogelaar. Photos: Suzan Voets and Aviculture Europe.

“Surrounded by all this, I don’t need to go on holiday”, Jan Voets said. And I fully agree; to me this summer-time visit felt like a holiday too, sitting in the sun on his grassy lawn, bordered with waving green plants and exotic flowers on the one side and enormous aviaries with parakeets and finches on the other.

Above: Jan Voets with a pile Dutch Bantam cock. Photo: Susan Voets.

Jan Voets Being a farmer’s son, chickens have been around him since childhood. His first memories: “I was only a little child when I got ‘my own’ first chicks. They were white Leghorns (layers) chicks, which were raised under a large round ‘hood’, heated by an old fashioned little briquette stove. I took 3 chicks and put them in a (unheated) little pen that I made myself, behind the henhouse. Next day they were dead…. A hard lesson; they couldn’t survive without a heater. Except for the layers, we also had bantams around the house. When I was a schoolboy I kept quails and doves”. Then, in 1969, he enlisted as a soldier, hoping for a carrier as a sports instructor. He was away from home for many weeks in a row, so keeping all those numerous sorts of birds was no longer possible. He changed to chickens and bantams, which were easier to look after by his parents when he was away. In 1974 he joined the Poultry and Pigeon breeders’ Club in Boxtel. It was his club mate Albert van der Horst who arranged his first Dutch Bantams. Albert’s partridge hens were famous for their superb marking; he was often Best of Show or Best of Breed, even at very large and famous Shows. According to Jan, it was Albert who infected him with the Dutch Bantam virus and stimulated a healthy interest in the heritage of characteristics in the bantams.

At the moment, Jan is editor of the Club magazine of the Dutch Bantam Club and chairman of the local Club in Boxtel. He is also a member of the Poultry Judge’s Committee, where he is busy educating new judges. One can always contact him with questions on breeding and heredity backgrounds. He is also frequently invited by the Clubs all over the country for lectures, preferably with live chickens.

Judge A slightly disappointed reaction on a wrongly judged partridge pullet (from his perspective, at least), resulted in the defying decision to become a judge himself and do better. And he said he would – “It was a bit bragging”, he now says with a big smile, “maybe I had a beer or two too much”. Anyway, he kept his word and started the training for poultry judge. That was in 1981. Today he is B-judge for Large Fowl and Bantams and C-judge for doves, quails, partridges and francolins. Since then he also took up many tasks in the poultry hobby.

Garden and Chickens His garden is very well set-up. The lawn, adjoining the characteristic house, is a perfect place to relax or enjoy the sunshine. At first glance you would think this is it, but where the flower beds almost seem to reach up to the aviaries, there is a passage to another part of the garden. Here is the kitchen garden and the orchard, with several coops. The chickens from each coop are allowed out by turn during a part of the day. The beds with strawberries, raspberries and lettuce are covered by nets, but that would also have to be done to prevent the starlings, black birds and others from stealing the fruits. The beans, potatoes, rhubarb and cabbages are not much bothered by the chickens. At the moment a pair of lemon millefleur bantams with their 6 weeks old chicks are busy exploring the territory, both mom and dad calling when they find a tasty bit for the chicks. They can free range all over the premises, up to the house. They mainly stay in the grassy orchard though, but when they notice the Voets family is out in the garden, the chickens hurry over to beg for a little tit-bit. To me, this is the most natural and pleasant way to keep chickens!

Right: The kitchen garden. Former page: The lawn with flower bed borders and aviaries. Photos: Aviculture Europe.

Still, the breeding is very well planned. At the moment he has pile, buff, millefleur and lemon- millefleur Dutch Bantams in his coops. The first round(s) of chicks are hatched in the incubator, but later in the season he prefers the natural way with broody hens. The Dutch Bantams make very good broodies and mothers, and according to Jan, these chicks are different in a positive way from the chicks that hatch in the incubator; they are keen and quick learning and have a much better plumage. He thinks the plumage quality of the latter category of chicks is due to the moister atmosphere under the mother’s wings, which provides a positive influence that lasts till the birds are mature. There have been years when he hatched 200 chicks (and sometimes as much as 400). Today never over one hundred chicks, but next to them there are as many baby-birds from other species: the English Budgerigars, the Barbary (Ringneck) Doves and Diamond doves, Quails and Zebra Finches.

Above: Budgerigars in the aviaries. Photo: Aviculture Europe.

Jan about his birds The Dutch Bantam is truly his favourite: the chickens are beautiful, vigorous and jaunty and not at all shy. They are satisfied with easy housing and even prefer sleeping in the trees, they lay a fair number of eggs, get broody and raise their chicks very well. Another breed that he kept for many years is the Silkie, but he quit with that breed for several reasons.

Left: One of the coops in the orchard. Photo: Aviculture Europe.

His main interest are the Dutch Breeds and because of his studies for Judge, he also kept or bred Polish and Bearded Polish, Barnevelder, Laken- felder, Frisian Fowl, Drenthe Fowl, Breda, but also foreign breeds like Chabo, Leghorns, Indian game and Rosecomb Bantams.

Right: Blue partridge hen with chicks. Photo: Suzan Voets.

Jan: “We very much enjoy having animals around the house, we are used to that since childhood. But we also enjoy participating in the Shows and the social contacts with club members. In this part of the Netherlands many people join a club and the annual Club Show with its festivities is the high day of the year which we certainly don’t want to miss.” It is always one of his aims to improve a certain colour variety or create new and appealing colours. He is triggered to test the Mendel’s Laws of inheritance: is it correct what is written and told? Over the years he practiced these laws at the many partridge varieties, such as partridge (black-red), silver partridge, blue silver partridge, red shouldered varieties etc. Together with Albert van der Horst he worked on improving the pile Dutch Bantams. They crossed with yellow white penciled Frisian bantams and after 8 years the ‘pelling’ (penciling) was superseded by the partridge marking and the dominant white of the white penciling superseded the black marking, thus creating a very ‘pure’ white marked pile bird.

Left: Jan showing us a perfect pile cock. Photo: Suzan Voets. Below, right: Photo Aviculture Europe.

He also crossed Lavender spangled Antwerp bearded bantams with black, blue and partridge Dutch Bantams, in an attempt to create lavender Dutch Bantams, which succeeded. The crossings also gave some lavender partridge birds. He was much surprised to hear that another Dutch Bantam breeder had bred some lavender partridge birds from a breeding pen of crele bantams. Further crossings of these bantams with his lavender partridge birds from the Antwerp bearded crossing, gave 100% lavender partridge offspring, proving that the lav gene was the initiator of this colour variety. It still puzzles him whether there is any relation between the cuckoo/bar factor and the lavender colour.

Breeding Dutch Bantams According to him, it would give the Hobby a positive impulse if the Standard were adopted in such a way that breeding separate pens for cocks and hens would not be necessary. The major reason is that only few fanciers have the possibilities (room and money) to practice this breeding method. Another reason is that many birds will not meet the Standard description and will have to be culled. Unnecessary culling is a true problem for many fanciers and a small breed like this is quiet pointless to grow for the dinner table. Thus in the present time this is a non- realistic breeding plan. Too few breeders will cling to this method. Better is to part with these demands as soon as possible and offer the breeders a possibility to breed Standard cocks and hens – which are fit to compete at the Show - from the same breeding pen.

As an example, he mentions the (Bankiva) partridge Dutch Bantams: “The demands for the intensive black hackle marking belong to the colour and markings of the Asiatic partridge birds. Often a Dutch Bantam with less intensive black in the hackle is only graded 91 or 92 points. This way of grading is inherently wrong, as from a hereditary point of view this is a not reasonable demand. The feathers of the Bankiva partridge chickens have less black eumelanine pigments than the feathers of the Asiatic partridge; the females of the latter have more black pigments, resulting in the many black lacings. You cannot demand a colour in a breed simply because you like it that way, when the breed is missing the genetic background for that particular colour. Holding on to the unnatural way of breeding with separate breeding pens for cocks and hens is not done in the present time, in which we gain more and more insight in heritable possibilities”.

Above: A pile broody with her chicks. Photo: Suzan Voets.

Below: Lemon millefleur cock and hen. Photo: Suzan Voets. Creating Millefleur and Lemon Millefleur Quoting Jan’s words: “Millefleur is a beautiful variety that – in my opinion – suits the Dutch Bantams very well. There is an old painting by Van Gink dated 1913, picturing Dutch Bantams in this colour. Liking this colour so much could be based on youth memories, as I still recall millefleur bantams walking around the house when I was a child. My little sister always brought some barnyard chicks with her, each time when she came home after having stayed for summer holidays at a farm, and always some of them were millefleur marked. Above: A millefleur chick. Photo: Suzan Voets.

Thirty years later I decided to one day breed those and in 1990 I actually started my attempt. The aim was to bring at least one of the millefleur varieties for recognition.

At the Jubilee Show for the 50th Anniversary of the Dutch Bantam Club in 1996 I entered several millefleur and lemon millefleur bantams, to add some sparkles to the show. In the restaurant tent there was a large corner decorated with plants and trees and I let my lemon partridge broody walking there with her chicks. They really grabbed the attention and many asked when would this beautiful colour be recognized. I promised to try for the millefleur in 2000 at the utmost, and the lemon millefleur to follow soon. So first the millefleur got all my attention and as I soon found other breeders who wanted to help, this could be realised without many problems.

Right: A millefleur broody, heterozygous for lemon millefleur, with her lemon millefleur and millefleur chicks. Photo: Suzan Voets.

To create the lemon millefleur I searched a breed in the wanted colour but, also, alike in type and size as much as possible. I heard that around 1990 a German breeder was trying to create lemon millefleur Rosecomb Bantams. With the help of befriended members of the Dutch Bantam Breeders’ Club in Germany, I was able to get in touch with this breeder, Theo Rothstegge. It was agreed that when the lemon millefleur birds were recognized in Germany, I could have a pair that looked more like the Dutch Bantams than like the Rosecomb Bantams. In 1992 I received my German birds and in return I gave Theo all my salmon Dutch Bantams (some 16 chickens). The plan was to breed lemon millefleur Dutch Bantams from crossing the lemon millefleur Rosecombs with buff blue Columbia Dutch Bantams”.

Right and left: Lemon millefleur hen. Photos: Suzan Voets.

“Let me explain the problems that you meet when crossing buff blue Columbia or partridge Dutch Bantams and lemon millefleur Rosecombs: The offspring will have rosecombs; the cockerels will have white legs; the earlobes are too large. My experience is that also the behaviour is different from the Dutch Bantams, as the offspring are less confident, rather shy, but very lively. This can only be solved by selecting on character, or by crossing with a colour variety that excels in the good qualities, such as the black or lavender Dutch Bantams.

You can get rid of the rosecombs by selecting. The large ears however, will be a problem for a long time and can only be solved by another crossing with Dutch Bantams. The wanted blue legs are harder to get than the colour and marking; I advise not to use a Rosecomb cock but a Rosecomb hen. Mating a blue legged male to a white legged female will give females with blue legs; then use these females in further breeding.

I also crossed with Sabelpoot bantams to improve the millefleur marking and with Antwerp Bearded bantams to obtain a nicer, hollow backline. The ‘remainings’ of the beard are hard to get rid of, though, and also the leg feathering is a persistent phenomenon”.

“However, making the lemon millefleur also brought all the troubles that are mainly related to too narrow inbreeding: Males without spurs, 2x6 main tail feathers instead of 2x7, cross beaks, missing toenails at the outer toes etc. Of course I had several chickens that could have stand the critical test of the Standard Committee, but that is no good to me. A new creation must be proper thoroughbred birds; getting recognition with only a few birds standing the test is humbug and is an ill business to you, the breed and the hobby.

Because the millefleur line was very vital without any anatomic anomalies, I used them for back crossing. Although it will take several years before you have enough good lemon millefleur bantams”.

Left: Two lemon millefleur broodies with their chicks. Photo Aviculture Europe.

Showing He keeps a special memory to the Jubilee Show of the 45 Anniversary of the Dutch Bantam Club in 1991, when one of his lavender Dutch Bantams – a colour variety created by him and, at that time, only having been recognized for a short period, became Best of Show and Overall Champion, graded with the max of 97 points.

Left: Pile cock. Photo: Suzan Voets.

However, for Jan the hobby is not in the first place meant for reaching the – often unrealistic – highest ideal, but to maintain and improve the breeds in a friendly and brotherly spirit. Winning prizes is not the most important aspect. It is all about a fine Hobby, friendships with like- minded people and last but not least, keeping animals in a way which is pleasant for the chickens as well! Health, vitality and welfare of the birds are of highest priority.

He gives a good example: “Recently a lady called, asking if I had a few pullets for her, but it had to be the same breed as she purchased from me 12 years ago. She started to tell me in a most enthusiastic way how tame they had been and that they had laid till 8 years old. Pity she had no cock, so no offspring. She had tried several other chickens in her pens since then, but none could compare with my very tame and gentle Dutch Bantams….” To Jan, things like this crown it all.

The Birds and Doves are also entered at the Shows. Since he retired from the Army, his youth love for Birds has flourished again. He started again with English Budgerigars and the English breeder Mike Banks set him up with e.g. a very beautiful Violet Danish Pied variety cock. In 2008 one of the offspring of this bird became Best of Show at the Grand National. Gradings of 92 and 93 were things he could never have dreamt of. (Note: At Bird Shows, 93 is one of the highest rankings.) Mike, when you read this: once more Thank you!

Above: The aviaries. Right: One of the budgerigars. Photos: Suzan Voets.

Left: Jan, judging at a show. Photo: Archives AE.

Reflection "The Hobby is well organized in the Netherlands, we are able to show our wonderful animals at well organized exhibitions. And new creations are often considered with benevolence. However, it is a pity that we are unable to stimulate more breeders and judges to increase their knowledge of genetics. The appearance of the animal as described in the standard is not only the product of the circumstances in which it was raised, but above all of hereditary characteristics! With more knowledge of genetics the judging could be more nuanced and judges could have a deeper understanding. And breeders of rare colour varieties would be less frequently disappointed. Fortunately, we have a younger generation of judges who realize this. One good thing is that in the current judge training, in addition to the significant ‘technical’ elements, also the social capabilities get adequate attention. It is not just about judging animals but also – or above all - about associating with people, even if they are not present at the judging. The pleasure in the hobby should not be spoiled by negative judge reports or remarks," says Jan.

Left: A pile chick. Below: One of the many Dutch Bantam males. Photos: Suzan Voets.

Most pleasant memories Pleasant memories – also for his wife and their three daughters - were the TV recording in the garden, for the series ‘Hello animals' and the visit to the TV studios for the program: ‘Wedden Dat’ – ‘I bet you’ where someone had to recognize the crowing roosters of 30 different breeds without seeing the birds. Especially the daughters had the time of their life meeting the stars of "Good Times, Bad Times" and could join the same table for lunch. Another rewarding and rich experience, also bringing a higher degree of self-confidence, was taking the son of the Japanese Emperor on a tour to visit Dutch poultry breeders. It's a nice story to hear how the Ambassador of Japan managed to find him while he was teaching a class of the 'Mine School'. Driving through the country with considerable speed with eight cars - partly with AA numbers (special-use license plates, registered to the Dutch royalties) as the adjutant to the Queen, Japanese businessmen, and Security were part of the procession - is a special, unforgettable experience. As a “thank you” for organizing the visits to various breeders his wife, children and himself received several great souvenirs, reminders of an adventure which he, if he had known before what it all would include, might not have dared to begin.

Above: Lemon millefleur cock, the father of the chicks. Photo: Suzan Voets.

To end with The creation of the lemon millefleurs was a long way to go and a long story to tell. Now he is content with the results and the birds as you can see them in the photos: sprightly, alert and friendly; real Dutch Bantams. “When we are eating out in the garden, they rush to come over and forage under the chairs and between your feet, hoping for a tidbit. On each new day it is a pleasure to see them”.

Right: Cock and hen with their ± 6 weeks old chicks in the orchard. Photo: Aviculture Europe

For more information on the Dutch Bantam: www.hollandsekriel.nl

Note: Suzan Voets offers her photos for personal use, you can order them at [email protected]