The Crèvecœur is an endangered historic breed of

crested chicken Crested chickens are a group of ornamental chicken breeds characterised by a tuft or crest of upward-pointing feathers on the head. History and distribution A skull excavated in England suggests that crested chickens were present there in R ...

from the

Pays d'Auge The Pays d'Auge (, literally ''Land of Auge'') is an area in Normandy, straddling the ''départements'' of Calvados and Orne (plus a small part of the territory of Eure). The chief town is Lisieux. Geography Generally it consists of the basin ...

, in the

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Nor ...

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- ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, in north-western France. It is named after the commune of Crèvecœur-en-Auge. It is related to the

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most pop ...

and to other Norman breeds such as the Caumont and Caux and the extinct

Pavilly Pavilly () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A town of farming and light industry situated by the banks of the river Austreberthe in the Pays de Caux, some northwest of Rouen at ...

; the Merlerault was formerly considered a sub-type of the Crèvecœur.

History

The Crèvecœur is among the oldest French breeds of chicken; its origins are unknown. It takes its name from the commune of Crèvecœur-en-Auge, near

Lisieux Lisieux () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland. Name The name of the town derives from the ...

in the historic region of the

, in the

. Crèvecoeur chickens won prizes at the Exposition Universelle of 1855 in Paris. The breed was described in detail by Louis Bréchemin in 1894, but the

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 physical or morphological detail, genetic criteria, or criteria of athlet ...

was not accepted by the Société d’Aviculture de Basse-Normandie until 1909. The Crèvecœur was reared in the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, and 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 ''Standar ...

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 resp ...

in 1874. The French population of the breed suffered during both the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

and

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

s; after the latter, it was thought to have virtually disappeared. Recovery was begun in 1976 by

Jean-Claude Périquet Jean-Claude is a French masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Jean-Claude Ades, an Italian electronic music producer * Jean-Claude Alibert (died 2020), a French racing driver * Jean-Claude Amiot (born 1939), a French compos ...

. In 1995 numbers were reported to be between 100 and 1000 individuals; in 2007 the breed was classified 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 ...

as "endangered". Bantam versions were separately developed in the United States from about 1960, and in Germany towards 2000.

Characteristics

The Crèvecœur has a

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings * The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York * Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switze ...

similar to that of the

Houdan Houdan () is a commune of the Yvelines department west of Paris in the north of France. History The name has evolved from the Saxon "Hoding," meaning "settlement on the hill". Houdan is thought to have been inhabited since the 5th century. By ...

breed. Unlike the Houdan, it is four-toed and has a V-shaped

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 Prehistory, prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlemen ...

like that of the

. It is most commonly black, and this is the only colour variant recognised in the United Kingdom and in the United States. Three other colours are recognised in France: blue, white, and cuckoo. The face,

, ear-lobes and

wattle Wattle or wattles may refer to: Plants *''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australia and South Africa **''Acacia'', large genus of shrubs and trees, native to Australasia **Black wattle, c ...

s are bright red, the legs and feet slate blue or black. The beak is a dark horn colour, the eyes may be red or sometimes black.

Use

The Crèvecœur was traditionally kept as a dual-purpose chicken, raised both for its eggs and for its meat, which is of high quality. The eggs are white, and weigh about . It is now raised primarily for poultry exhibition.

References

Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in France {{poultry-stub