The Campine is a breed of domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

originating in the northern part of Belgium. It is named for the

Campine The Campine ( French ) or De Kempen (Dutch ) is a natural region situated chiefly in north-eastern Belgium and parts of the south-eastern Netherlands which once consisted mainly of extensive moors, tracts of sandy heath, and wetlands. It encom ...

region of north-eastern Belgium and south-eastern Netherlands. It was known there as the Kempisch Hoen.

History

The Campine was originally a smaller type of the

Braekel The Braekel or Brakel is a traditional Belgian List of chicken breeds, breed of chicken. It is thought to have originated in the area of Brakel, Belgium, Brakel, in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, f ...

, weighing up to less. It was distributed throughout the

province of Antwerp ) , native_name_lang = nl , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of Antwerp.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van de provincie Antwerpen.svg , shield_size ...

and in the northern and central part of the province of Limburg. It was decided in 1884 that the two types should be separated. After a long controversy, the Campine became a separate breed with its own breed standard on 28 August 1904. After further controversy, the two breeds were reunited under a single standard in 1925 or 1926, with the name Kempisch-Braekel. In 1962 it was decided that the Campine type had entirely disappeared, and the name of the Belgian breed was changed to Brakelhoen. The Campine was imported to England in about 1899, and was bred there to become a very different bird. In particular,

hen feathering Hen feathering in cocks is the occurrence of a genetically conditioned character in domestic fowl (''Gallus gallus domesticus''). Males with this condition develop a female-type plumage, although otherwise look and respond as virile males. Hen-fe ...

in cocks became standard. Hen-feathered Braekel cocks had been bred by Oscar Thomaes of

Ronse Ronse (; french: Renaix, ) is a Belgian city and a municipality in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality only encompasses the city of Ronse proper. History Early settlements to 14th century The hills around Ronse show clu ...

, Belgium, in 1904, and a cock hatched from one of his eggs took first place at a show at the

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

in London in that year. Birds were exported from Britain to the United States. A Campines cock took first prizes at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in January 1913. The Campines was added to the ''

Standard of Perfection The ''American Standard of Perfection'' is the official breed standard for the poultry fancy in North America. First published in 1874 by the American Poultry Association, the ''Standard of Perfection'' (commonly referred to as "the ''Standard''" ...

'' of the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in the North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respo ...

in 1914. In the teens and early 1920s, the Silver Campine was raised for eggs with some commercial success by U.S. poultry producers such as Homestead Campine Farm of Wayland, MA.

Characteristics

There are two colour varieties of the Campine, Silver and Gold. Both sexes have the same colour pattern: the Silver has a pure white head and neck hackles, the rest of the bird being barred with black with beetle-green sheen, on a pure white ground; the Golden variety has the same pattern, but the head, neck hackles and body ground colour is rich gold rather than white. In its country of origin, the Campine had a reputation as an "every day layer", a reliable producer of large white eggs. Campines are considered to be a flighty, hardy breed with an active and inquisitive nature. They are among the rarest of domestic chicken breeds.

Use

The Campine lays a fair number of white-shelled eggs, but is kept mostly for showing today.

Genetic research

The Golden Campine was used in early research into

auto-sexing Auto-sexing breeds of poultry are those in which the sex of newly-hatched chicks can be determined from the colour and markings of the down. Some breeds of chicken, of goose and of domestic pigeon have this characteristic. The idea of such a b ...

in chickens by

Reginald Crundall Punnett Reginald Crundall Punnett FRS (; 20 June 1875 – 3 January 1967) was a British geneticist who co-founded, with William Bateson, the ''Journal of Genetics'' in 1910. Punnett is probably best remembered today as the creator of the Punnett ...

and

Michael Pease Michael Stewart Pease OBESupplement to the London Gazette
11 June 1966, p ...

at the Genetical Institute in Cambridge. The Cambar, the first auto-sexing

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

, created in 1929, was a cross between the Golden Campine and the

Barred Rock The Plymouth Rock is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was first seen in Massachusetts in the nineteenth century, and for much of the early twentieth century was the most widely kept chicken breed in the United States. It is a dual-pur ...

. The hen-feathering trait in cocks of the Golden Campine has been found to be identical to that in the

Sebright The Sebright (IPA: ) is a British breed of bantam chicken. It is a true bantam – a miniature bird with no corresponding large version – and is one of the oldest recorded British bantam breeds. It is named after Sir John Saunders Sebrigh ...

, a bantam breed. It has been suggested that it is the same gene, and that the trait in the Campine derives from the Sebright. The Campine is closely related to the Dutch Chaamse Hoen. Although the Campine also has a degree of resemblance to the Egyptian

Fayoumi The Fayoumi or Egyptian Fayoumi is an Egyptian breed of chicken. It originates from – and is named for – the governorate of Fayoum, which lies south-west of Cairo and west of the Nile. It is believed to be an ancient breed. History The Fa ...

, in plumage and in behavior, no genetic studies have been done linking the two breeds.

References

{{Chicken breeds of Belgium Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy Chicken breeds originating in Belgium Chicken breeds Animal breeds on the RBST Watchlist