The Pictave is an endangered French breed of bantam

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 adu ...

. It is named for the Pictavi, the tribe which gave its name to the former

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

, now part of the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...

. It is a true bantam, and has no full-sized counterpart; it is the only true bantam of France. Cocks weigh about and hens about It was created in the twentieth century by Raymond Lecointre, who used the hens to incubate his

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...

eggs and raise the chicks.

History

Like the

Belgian Bantam The Belgian Bantam, nl, Belgisch kriel, italic=no, french: Naine belge, italic=no, is a breed of bantam chicken from Belgium. It is a true bantam, and has no full-sized counterpart; cocks weigh about and hens about It is in danger of extincti ...

and the

Dutch Bantam The Dutch Bantam ( nl, Hollandse Kriel, italic=no) is a breed of bantam chicken originating in the Netherlands. It is a true bantam, a naturally small bird with no related large fowl from which it was miniaturized. It is kept mainly for exhibi ...

, the Pictave derives from the widespread European population of small partridge-coloured bantams which in Flemish were known as , "English bantams". From about 1900 these were selectively bred by Raymond Lecointre at Anché, to the south of Poitiers in the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

of the

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.incubate his

eggs and raise the chicks. A standard for the breed was drawn up in 1928, and approved in 1929. The Pictave came close to extinction in the years after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. There were attempts to rescue it by

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

with other bantam breeds. Care was taken to avoid

consanguinity Consanguinity ("blood relation", from Latin '' consanguinitas'') is the characteristic of having a kinship with another person (being descended from a common ancestor). Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting people who are related by blood fr ...

, but the poor understanding of

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

of the time meant that the breed deviated from the original pre-War standard. The Bantam Club of France published its first book of standards in 1985; the Pictave was well described, but the illustration did not conform precisely to the standard. This deviation was recognised at the conference of Châtellerault in 1998, and a new breeding objective was established: to return to the 1928 standard. The Pictave is rare. It was listed as "endangered" 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 2014 there were 50 fertile hens.

Characteristics

The Pictave has a long tail, long wings which are carried low, and a rounded breast. Cocks weigh about and hens about A single

colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

, partridge, is recognised for the breed. The legs are pinkish-white and four-toed, the comb, earlobes and wattles red.

Use

Pictave hens are lay about 130 creamy-white eggs per year; the eggs should weigh at least . The hens are excellent sitters and good mothers. Pictave hens have been used in the

Nord-Pas-de-Calais Nord-Pas-de-Calais (); pcd, Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais ...

region (now part of Hauts-de-France) to help in re-introduction of

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They are sometimes grouped in the Perd ...

References

{{Chicken breeds of France Bantam chicken breeds Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in France