Frizzle (chicken breed)
Breed of chicken
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Frizzle is a breed of chicken with characteristic curled or frizzled plumage. While the frizzle gene can be seen in many breeds, such as the Pekin and Polish, the Frizzle is recognised as a distinct breed in a number of European countries[4][6] and Australia.[2]: 79 In the United States, frizzled chickens are not considered a breed, and at shows are judged by the standards of the breed they belong to.[7]: 24
A frizzle-feathered chicken at the Minnesota State Fair in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, USA; possibly not of the frizzle breed | |
| Use | fancy |
|---|---|
| Traits | |
| Weight | |
| Egg colour | white or tinted[1]: 121 |
| Comb type | single |
| Classification | |
| APA | no[3] |
| EE | standard and bantam recognised[4] |
| PCGB | soft feather: heavy[5] |
| APS | heavy breed softfeather[2]: 79 |
| Notes | |
| clean-legged[1]: 121 | |
| |
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History
The origin of the Frizzle is unknown. The frizzle gene is thought to have originated in Asia;[8]: 137 frizzled chickens have been reported from the Far East since the eighteenth century.[6] The Frizzle breed is the result of selective breeding for exhibition.[6][9]: 102 It is recognised in nine European countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.[4][1]
Characteristics
The gene for the curling of the feathers is incompletely dominant over normal plumage; not all members of the breed have frizzled feathers. Frizzled birds are heterozygous for the gene; when two are bred, the offspring inherit the gene in the usual Mendelian 1:2:1 ratio: 50% are heterozygous and frizzled like the parents, 25% have normal feathering, and 25% are "over-frizzled", with brittle feathers resembling pipe-cleaners. The Frizzle has a single comb and is clean-legged – without feathers on the shanks.[1]: 121 It is a good forager and is hardy.[6]
Four colours are recognised in the Entente Européenne standard: black, blue, cuckoo and white.[4] The Poultry Club of Great Britain recognises nineteen colours for both standard and bantam sizes;[10] not all of them are currently bred.[6] The Australian Poultry Standards recognise black, blue, buff, white, Columbian, red and "any recognised colour".[2]: 79–80
Research suggests that the frizzled phenotype comes from a mutation within the keratin gene KRT75. A deletion that removed part of exon 5 and intron 5 ameliorated the splice site. This caused a 69 base pair deletion of the KRT75 gene.[11]
Use
The Frizzle is reared exclusively for exhibition.[1]: 121 It is a good layer of white or tinted eggs, and frequently gets broody.[8]: 137
