The is a German

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable 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 seve ...

of domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

from the

Bergisches Land The Bergisches Land (, ) is a low mountain range in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of the Rhine and south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by forests, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over twenty artificial lakes ...

, in the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

in western Germany. It is named for its unusually long crow, up to five times as long as that of other breeds, and belongs to the group of long-crowing chicken breeds, which are found from south-east Europe to the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

History

The Bergische Kräher has been bred in the

for hundreds of years, and there are various myths about its origins. It was probably brought there from south-east Europe or the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

at the time of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

, and may have been spread through the area by Cistercian monks. It is closely related to the

Bergische Schlotterkamm The Bergische Schlotterkamm () is an old and endangered German breed of domestic chicken. It originates from the Bergisches Land, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany, and is one of three chicken breeds from that area, th ...

. Crowing contests were held for the birds, and they 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 ma ...

for their crowing ability. A

breed 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 ...

, the Kräherzüchtervereinigung, was founded in 1884, and the first

breed standard In animal husbandry or animal fancy, a breed standard is a description of the characteristics of a hypothetical or ideal example of a breed. The description may include phenotype, physical or morphology (biology), morphological detail, genotype, g ...

dates from 1885. Today the Bergische Kräher is a rare breed. In 2001 it was an "endangered breed of the year" 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 membe ...

, and is listed in category I: , "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 that organisation. In 2009, 77 cocks and 337 hens were recorded; in 2013 the total population was 329.

Characteristics

Only one plumage colouring is recognised, gold-laced black. Hen birds are black with some gold markings on the wings and breast; cocks have gold neck-hackles and maroon markings on the wings. The black colour variety is extinct, black-silver coloured birds are extremely rare. Like the Bergische Schlotterkamm, the Bergische Kräher shows typical broad lacing ("") of the breast feathers. Cocks weigh and hens The

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

is single, the earlobes are white, and the legs are slate-blue.

Use

The Bergische Kräher is a dual-purpose breed, with good meat qualities. Hens lay about 130 white

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s per year, with an average weight of ; they have little tendency to

broodiness Broodiness is the action or behavioral tendency to sit on a clutch of eggs to incubate them, often requiring the non-expression of many other behaviors including feeding and drinking.Homedes Ranquini, J. y Haro-García, F. Zoogenética. 1ra. edi ...

. Cock crowing contests with Bergische Krähers have been a sport in the Bergische Land for centuries. Since 1923, the breed society has organised annual crowing contests on Ascension Thursday. In these – unlike in most traditional cock crowing contests in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium – the crow is judged for its length and beauty, rather than for its frequency. Wilhelma Haushuhn 2.jpg, Hen Dobbelung bij haan.jpg, The typical broad lacing (''Dobbelung'') of the breast feathers Tab47 Hühner (Geflügel-Album, Jean Bungartz, 1885).jpg, Historical Illustration, Jean Bungartz, 1885

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergische Kraher Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in Germany Animal breeds on the GEH Red List Long-crowing chickens