Sulmtaler
| Sulmtaler | |
|---|---|
|
|
| origin | Austrian breed |
| Color change | Wheat-colored, blue-silver-wheat colored and very rarely the white color |
| close relationship | Altsteirer |
| Weight | Stopcock 3.0 to 3.5 kg
Hen 2.5 to 3.5 kg |
| Laying output per year | 150-160 eggs |
| Eggshell color | cream colored |
| Egg weight | 55 g |
The Sulmtaler chicken is an Austrian breed of domestic chicken that is also kept in Germany. The breed was bred around 1880 for capon production from indigenous Styrian flocks and later developed into a dual-purpose chicken. The hens have a high laying performance, and Sulmtaler are good feed converters and easy to fatten. Because of the high quality of the meat, Sulmtalers are particularly popular in the gastronomy of Styria today. Sulmtaler are rare and are considered an endangered breed of chicken.
Origin and Distribution
The Sulmtaler chicken is a descendant of the former Styrian country chicken , which was kept especially in the Kainachtal , Laßnitztal , Sulmtal and Saggautal and developed into a heavy country fowl through breeding and fattening. The "Styrian capon" was of particular importance and was exported because of its size, tenderness and flavor of its meat and was valued at European royal courts. For the coronation ceremony of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804, 150 capons and 50 chickens were ordered from the Styrian State Office. The Kapaunplatz in Graz is still reminiscent of the quarter where the poultry traders , the guild of the " Kapaun-Fratschler ", used to live.
In the period from 1865 to 1875, the unorganized crossbreeding of Cochin , Houdan and Dorking resulted in a chicken loft with rather unfavorable properties. From 1900 the Graz poultry breeding association began to breed both Altsteirern and Sulmtaler in pure lines together with the breeders Armin Arbeiter and Emanuel Martiny . This is how the heavy broiler and broiler chicken, only now known as Sulmtaler , was created, which was recognized by the Styrian state government due to its excellent usefulness and especially recommended for maize growing areas. The Sulmtaler spread quickly. Around 1914, Sulmtaler chickens could be found on around 1,000 poultry farms in Styria. After the population had declined in the First World War , the breed was bred again by Franz Koschar around 1925 and survived the Second World War in the Dornegg breeding facility near Graz, where attempts were subsequently made to increase the body weight again.
While Sulmtaler were originally mainly kept in the region between Graz and Marburg an der Drau , the breed spread in Germany between 1918 and 1945 and is now bred in both countries.
Existence and endangerment
After the breeding establishment in Dornegg was closed in 1957 due to the increasing industrial chicken production, the stock of Sulmtalers fell sharply, until around 1990 some breeders returned to the qualities of this natural breed.
The breed is included in the red list of endangered domestic animal breeds in Austria. The current population of Sulmtalers in Austria is around 5000 animals. In addition, in 2007 there were around 2,000 copies in several Central European countries. In 2007 there were 15 to 20 farms in Germany and seven farms in Austria that raised these chickens. The population survey for the Sulmtaler breed as part of the poultry monitoring carried out in Germany by the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food resulted in a nationwide population of 157 roosters and 806 hens. The German GEH has included the Sulmtaler in the “Races from other countries” category in the red list it has drawn up.
The Sulmtaler chicken is looked after in Austria by the special association of Styrian chicken breeders in Austria . In Germany, this task was taken over by the special association of breeders of Altsteirer, Sulmtaler and Zwerg-Altsteirer chicken with a total of 51 members in 2013.
Features and performance
Sulmtalers are tough, dual-purpose chickens with tender, white meat. They are very fast growing, excellent feed converters and therefore easy to fatten. The egg production in the first year is around 180 cream-colored to light brown eggs with a hatching egg minimum weight of 55 g. The breeding instinct is rather low. The animals have a calm character and are easy to tame. Despite their heavy weight, Sulmtaler can fly quite well. The chicks are growing quickly and rearing is easy.
Due to traditional knowledge about the breeding and keeping of the breed, the Sulmtaler in Austria is also listed as Sultmaler Hendl , Sulmtaler Kaiserhahn and Sulmtaler Kapaun in the register of traditional foods .
Since 2004 a group of breeders has been organized in southern Styria and, together with the universities of Ljubljana and Marburg an der Drau, has set the task of preserving the breed. In 2006 the Sulmtaler Chicken was declared a flagship project in the South Styrian Wine Country Nature Park and in 2007 it was included in the "Ark of Taste" by Slow Food Austria .
Breed characteristics
Sulmtaler chickens are deep-built, heavy country chickens, known as "squat", with a barely medium-high position and fine bone structure. They have a full, deep and wide trunk in the shape of a box. The tail is made up of medium-length feathers and has many side sickles.
The rooster weighs between 3 and 4 kg, the hen weighs 2.5 to 3.5 kg. A striking distinguishing feature of this chicken is the upright curling comb in hens , which is only found in the Styrian breeds (such as the Old Styrian ) and the bold head of feathers . The ear discs are white and small, although a red and white expression is allowed. The eyes are orange-red and the wattles are medium-sized. The breed has barely protruding, well-muscled thighs and medium-length legs. Wheat-colored forms are mostly bred, more rarely white ones, whereby both types are recognized.
Dwarf form
The dwarf form of the Sulmtaler was bred around 1920 in Germany by Hans-Joachim Webers from Isernhagen with the participation of large Sulmtalers and other dwarf races such as dwarf Paduans , wild-colored German dwarfs and yellow dwarf Orpington . The dwarf Sulmtaler was presented for the first time in 1960 in Hanover with 32 animals. In the further breeding, in addition to a rattleless dwarf hen, wheat -colored dwarf fighters, German dwarf salmon chickens and red dwarf orpington were used. A special feature is the small head in front of which a single comb sits. The blows are gold-wheat-colored or blue-wheat colored, the latter variant being particularly common in Austria. Just like the "big" Sulmtaler, the dwarf forms can fly well. They are trusting and frugal and have a high laying performance.
Others
Sulmtaler chickens have been crossed with Bress chickens by poultry farmer Hans-Joachim Schleicher from the Triesdorf Agricultural Training Institute for several years .
This dual-use hybrid, optimized for laying performance and carcass, is particularly suitable for the needs of extensive agriculture and represents an alternative to conventional and one-sidedly optimized laying or fattening hybrids in conventional agriculture.
Evidence and further literature
literature
- Armin Arbeiter, Emanuel Martiny and Josef Masek: Styrian chicken breeding. A handbook for farmers and chicken breeders, also suitable for schools. Moser-Verlag Graz 1918, 6th edition.
- Horst Schmidt: The chicken breeds . Volume 2: Easy Types. Albrecht Philler Verlag, Minden 1981, ISBN 3-7907-0722-8 .
- Susanne Aigner: The Sulmtaler Chicken. ProVieh magazine 1/2010 online.
- Susanne Aigner: Dual Purpose Chicken - Dream or Soon Reality ?. ProVieh magazine 1 / 2010a; Pp. 8-9.
- Tobias Pehle and Yara Hackstein: Dumont's little lexicon of chickens . Rearing, keeping, breeding. Dörfler-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-8955-5463-6 .
- Horst Schmidt and Rudi Proll: Pocket Atlas Chickens and Bantams , Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2010, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-8001-6418-9 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Schmidt and Proll 2010: 115
- ↑ a b 19th century (no longer available online.) Sulmtaler Vermarktungs-GmbH, archived from the original on April 4, 2015 ; Retrieved July 22, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Schmidt 1981 p. 11 f.
- ↑ Sulmtaler GmbH website on Armin Arbeiter ( memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Doris Reinthaler, Eva Sommer: Sulmtaler chicken. (PDF; 170.84 kB) (No longer available online.) March 16, 2010, archived from the original on August 12, 2014 ; Retrieved July 22, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Sulmtaler at the Society for the Preservation of Old and Endangered Pet Breeds ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Website of the Special Association of Styrian chicken breeders Austria
- ↑ SV d. Z. of the Altsteirer, Sulmtaler and dwarf Altsteirer chicken. Association of chicken, large and water fowl breeders' associations for the preservation of species and breed diversity e. V., accessed on July 22, 2014 .
- ↑ Description of the Sulmtaler as "traditional food ( Memento of the original from October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Slow Food / Ark of Taste
- ↑ Pehle, Hackstein 2010, p. 232 f.
- ↑ Schmidt, Proll 2010, p. 182
- ↑ Aigner 2010a
Web links
- Sulmtaler chicken . Entry no. 99 in the register of traditional foods of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Regions and Tourism .