The Lakenvelder or Lakenfelder is a

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

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 ...

from the

Nordrhein-Westfalen North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabi ...

area of Germany and neighbouring areas of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It was first recorded in 1727.

History

The origins of the Lakenvelder are not clear. Two different histories are proposed: it may have originated in Holland, where it is documented from 1727, and its name may derive from that of the village of Lakerveld, in the municipality of

Zederik Zederik () is a former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covered an area of of which is water. It had a population of in . The municipality of Zederik was formed on January 1, 1986, thr ...

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

. An alternative history is that it originated in Germany in the area of Dielingen in

, not far from the Dümmer See, where chickens with a black neck and tail and a white body occurred as

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

s of the local

Westfälischer Totleger The is a German breed of domestic chicken. It is more than 400 years old, and is a rare breed. History The Totleger derives from the traditional rural chickens of Westphalia, and was reared mainly in the area of the cities of Bielefeld a ...

breed; these black-and-white birds were

selectively bred Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

by several breeders, and were first shown in 1835 by one named Wirz, from in

Stemwede Stemwede is a municipality in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Following a recent regional reorganization, in 1973, the former districts of Dielingen-Wehdem and Levern were consolidated and the district of "Stemwe ...

. They came to be known as Lakenvelder, and enjoyed considerable popularity until the arrival in the later nineteenth century of more productive imported breeds such as the Leghorn, after which numbers declined rapidly. In Germany, a

breeders' association Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members o ...

, the , was formed in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

in 1907. The Lakenvelder was first imported into Britain in 1901, and was shown in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

in 1902. In the United States, it was admitted 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 1939. The international

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

of the Lakenvelder was not listed as being at risk by the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

in 2007; in Germany, it is listed in category III, ("extremely endangered") on the

Rote Liste The , full name , is a red list of threatened breeds of domestic animal published annually by the Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen, the German national association for the conservation of historic and endangere ...

of the

Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen The or GEH is a German national association for the conservation of historic and endangered domestic animal breeds. History The GEH was founded on 5 December 1981 in the Rottal, in Lower Bavaria in southern Germany. It has about 2100 memb ...

Characteristics

The head, neck hackle and tail of the Lakenvelder are solid black, without spots, ticks or stripes; the inner web of the wing primaries and secondaries is black. The rest of the bird is white with a pale blue-grey under-colour. The black-and-white pattern is reminiscent of the colouring of the Lakenvelder breed of cattle, which originated in the same area. The eyes are bright chestnut or red, the beak dark horn, and the face, wattles and comb bright red, with white earlobes. The legs are slate-blue.

Use

The Lakenvelder lays up to 160 white eggs, weighing up to 50 g each, per year. File:Silverlakenvelderchick.jpg, Three-day-old chick File:Lakenfelder Hahn (Jungtier).JPG, Cockerel

References

Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in Germany Animal breeds on the GEH Red List {{poultry-stub