Campine chicken

Lore & Background

The Campine was originally a smaller type of the Braekel, weighing up to 1.2 kg less, and was distributed throughout the province of Antwerp and in the northern and central part of the province of Limburg. In 1884 it was decided that the two types should be separated, and after a long controversy the Campine became a separate breed with its own breed standard on 28 August 1904. After further controversy, the two breeds were reunited under a single standard in 1925 or 1926, with the name Kempisch-Braekel. In 1962 it was decided that the Campine type had entirely disappeared, and the name of the Belgian breed was changed to Brakelhoen.

The Campine was imported to England in about 1899, where it was bred to become a very different bird, with hen feathering in cocks becoming standard. Hen-feathered Braekel cocks had been bred by Oscar Thomaes of Ronse, Belgium, in 1904, and a cock hatched from one of his eggs took first place at a show at the Alexandra Palace in London in that year. Birds were exported from Britain to the United States, and a Campines cock took first prizes at Madison Square Garden, New York City, and in Boston in January 1913. In the teens and early 1920s, the Silver Campine was raised for eggs with some commercial success by U.S. poultry producers such as Homestead Campine Farm of Wayland, MA.

Reader's Guide

The Campine chicken holds significance as a breed that played a role in early poultry genetics, particularly through the Golden Campine's use in auto-sexing research by Reginald Crundall Punnett and Michael Pease at the Genetical Institute in Cambridge. The Cambar, the first auto-sexing hybrid, created in 1929, was a cross between the Golden Campine and the Barred Rock. The hen-feathering trait in cocks of the Golden Campine has been found to be identical to that in the Sebright bantam breed, with the suggestion that it is the same gene and that the trait in the Campine derives from the Sebright. The Campine is closely related to the Dutch Chaamse Hoen, and although it bears a degree of resemblance to the Egyptian Fayoumi in plumage and behavior, no genetic studies have linked the two breeds. Today, the Campine is among the rarest of domestic chicken breeds and is kept mostly for showing, though in its country of origin it had a reputation as an 'every day layer' of large white eggs. Its history of breed separation and reunion, and its development into distinct forms in Belgium and England, illustrate the complexities of breed standardization in the early 20th century.

Did You Know?

• The Campine was originally a smaller type of the Braekel, weighing up to 1.2 kg less.
• Hen feathering in cocks became standard in the English Campine, and a hen-feathered Braekel cock took first place at Alexandra Palace in London in 1904.
• The Golden Campine was used in early research into auto-sexing chickens, leading to the creation of the Cambar hybrid in 1929.
• The Campine is closely related to the Dutch Chaamse Hoen.