Pavlovskaya breed of chickens: egg production, characteristics

What kind of breeds of chickens can not be found today in the farmsteads and household plots of Our Country. Many breed chickens not only for meat and eggs, but also for ornamental purposes, and there are more and more of these breeds. But in the vast expanses of our country, it turns out that there is a breed of chickens, which is recognized all over the world as a role model in many respects, but, above all, in its beauty. Moreover, Pavlovsky chickens are recognized as almost the most ancient breed of chickens in the history of Our Country. They are akin to ancient fossil animals, which anyone interested in paleontology dreams of reviving.

As for the Pavlovsk breed of chickens, it is almost like a Phoenix bird, it was revived from complete oblivion in the eighties of the last century by the efforts of several enthusiastic breeders, who also work in completely different parts of Our Country. At the moment, it is already possible to speak with complete obviousness about the complete restoration of this breed, although its fate was very difficult.

History of the breed

Partly due to the antiquity of origin, partly due to the lack of written evidence, the very history of the appearance of the Pavlovian chicken breed is still, unfortunately, covered in darkness.

It is only known that the first chickens of this breed were bred in the village of Pavlovo, Nizhny Novgorod province, from where, in fact, their name came from. This village and its inhabitants became famous throughout Our Country not only for chickens. In ancient times, it was called Vulkanovo, due to the fact that the main craft, which was owned by almost every adult man in the village, was blacksmithing. Probably due to the fact that blacksmithing was highly valued in Our Country, the villagers were issued passports by a special decree of Empress Catherine II, with which they could freely move not only throughout Our Country, but also abroad and trade their products. Although at the same time serfdom flourished in the rest of Our Country, the Pavlovtsy had the opportunity, when traveling, to bring various curiosities from distant lands, it was not for nothing that they became famous for breeding the unique Pavlovian lemon, which grew and bore fruit in almost every hut.

They were also engaged in breeding various breeds of birds: geese, chickens, canaries, etc. The inhabitants of the village of Pavlovo, apparently, were surprisingly talented in everything, because they managed to breed, and even keep clean, a breed of chickens with very complex recessive genetics.

Starting from the XNUMXth century, the Pavlovian breed of chickens began to spread to many countries in Europe and Asia, where it received due recognition, and only in its homeland it was almost completely forgotten. Due to the disdain for domestic breeds and the preference for everything foreign in those years, the Pavlovian breed of chickens was placed almost on the brink of extinction. Although then, at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries, the disappearance of the breed was still prevented.

In 1878, Pavlovian chickens were presented in Moscow at an international exhibition, and in 1899 they received the status of a national breed. But then there was the revolution of 1917, the Civil War and the years of dispossession that followed it, when many breeds of poultry and animals were lost or mixed with each other.

And only at the end of the last century, literally by a miracle, it was possible to restore the Pavlovian breed in the form in which it existed at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.

Breed description

Pavlovian chickens, the description of the breed of which follows, are a small, strongly built, bearded-crested bird with legs covered with dense plumage.

• The live weight of a rooster of this breed is about 1,5-2,2 kg, respectively, the hen weighs about 1,3-1,5 kg;
• The head is round, medium in size. The beak is almost straight, its color depends on the color of the plumage, thin;
• The eyes are rather large, round, dark;
• The crest is one of the main features of the breed. There are three varieties, but the third is usually discarded. Ideally, the crest should have a round or oval base and grow in the form of a sheaf upwards, and then fall apart in such a kind of fountain in all directions. There are also helmet-shaped crests, narrower in shape, squeezed on the sides and slightly inclined forward. At the same time, they do not fall apart and do not interfere with the eyesight of the bird. The third type of crest, when it falls apart badly and interferes with vision, is considered a defect in the breed;

  

• The crest is very small, reminiscent of horns. Earrings are very small, hardly distinguishable because of the feathers of the beard. The beard and sideburns are well developed, thick, covering most of the face and throat. The very face is red;
• The neck is short and covered with a thick feather cover. The wings are wide, medium, usually tightly pressed. The tail is full, beautifully spread at a right angle to the back;
• The lower leg is also densely feathered, the so-called hawk tuft is a distinctive feature on it. In birds, feathers in the area of ​​​​the knee joint are fan-shaped in the form of a spoon, so when a chicken crouches, a kind of feather bedding forms under its feet, thanks to which it can even sleep in the snow;

  

• The metatarsus (the so-called lower parts of the legs, naked in ordinary chickens) are blue or gray in color, densely feathered, while the feathers are pressed to the metatarsus, and do not stick out to the side, like in other upland breeds of chickens;
• There should be four fingers, all should have plumage, at least a quarter of the length.

The appearance of a chicken and a rooster of the Pavlovian breed is quite similar, except that in roosters the tail is much more pronounced and widely spread. The chicken actually has no earrings. But, oddly enough, the crest, sideburns and beard are usually more developed in chickens than in a rooster.

Many beginners who are just starting to breed the Pavlovian breed are interested in at what age and how to distinguish chickens from roosters. In this respect, the breed is rather difficult; it is unlikely that it will be possible to determine the sex before two months. Birds can disguise themselves well, but some signs can still be noted.

• In hens, the crest looks more like a round cap, while in males, the crest is rather elongated in length in the form of a miniature mohawk;
• If you look at the chickens in the total mass from above, then in the Pavlovian cockerels, the pattern on the wings and back is slightly larger and brighter;
• Females fledge faster and more evenly than males, which take longer to grow and may have large, well-defined bare spots on their bodies;
• The paws of cockerels are usually larger and longer than those of hens;
• Well, one cannot fail to mention the often used “folk method” for determining the sex of any chicken – gently lift it into the air by one leg upside down. In this case, the hen will press her head up towards her chest, and the cockerel will rather stretch her head down and to the sides, as if assessing the situation.

The gross shortcomings of the Pavlovian breed, when birds are usually culled, include the following features:

• the complete absence of a crest or a crest spread out in different directions, interfering with vision;
• legs without plumage;
• lack of a beard;
• the presence of a fifth finger or cerebral herniation.

Characteristics of the Pavlovian breed of chickens with a photo

The breed is considered decorative egg, because despite its unearthly beauty, the Pavlovian breed chicken is capable of laying from 150 to 170 eggs per year. She begins to rush on average at the age of about one year. Eggs are white, and sometimes creamy in color, the mass of testicles is quite large for such small birds – 50-65 gr. The taste characteristics of the eggs are excellent, the yolk makes up the majority of the egg.

Roosters of the Pavlovian breed grow quite quickly and by six months reach a mass of 1200 to 1500 grams.

Laying hens have a well developed brooding instinct and are very caring mothers who raise and educate their chicks in a touching way. The hatchability is about 90%, and the survival rate of the chicks is even higher – about 95%.

In general, the birds of this breed are very affectionate to humans, they are happy to make contact, communicate, although they have a rather restless and active character.

The endurance of these birds also belongs to the category of a miracle. In frost -36°C, they do not hide in the chicken coop, but prefer to voluntarily spend the night on the branches of trees and on the fence. Due to their abundant feather cover, they do not freeze at all.

Finally, the color variations of the Pavlovian breed are quite diverse. Breeders have golden, silver, smoky, black, white, porcelain, salmon and yellow variations of the birds.

Golden

Pavlovskaya golden is one of the most popular and widespread varieties of the Pavlovskaya breed of chickens at the moment. This is one of those colors, the stuffed animals of which have survived to the present day, and according to them, at one time, the selection of the corresponding specimens was made for the breeding of the breed. The photo below shows preserved stuffed roosters and hens of the Pavlovian breed, and against their background a living modern rooster.

The general base shade of the plumage is golden. At the tip of almost every feather there is a black spot of a fairly regular shape. On some parts of the body, the spots take on a rather distinct look of the Latin letter V. The crest and sideburns with a beard can be either black or variegated. However, it is difficult to convey in words all the colorfulness of this plumage, for which the birds were popularly called “gold”.

Silvery

The Pavlovsk silver breed is the second most common, and it was this color that was also found among the old pictures illustrating representatives of the Pavlovsk breed of chickens.

In hens and roosters of this variety, the white or silver base color of the plumage predominates. And on it, just like in golden chickens, black spots of various sizes and shapes are scattered and quite regular in appearance.

Other varieties

It is known that the Pavlovian breed had other color varieties, but they are much less common and often rejected due to a discrepancy to one or another requirement of the breed standard. Nevertheless, white Pavlovian chickens are quite common – the color of their plumage, in accordance with the name, is snow-white.

Sometimes there are so-called porcelain Pavlovian chickens, the color of the plumage of which is so variegated that it is difficult to give preference to any one color. Look better at the photos of these beauties and see for yourself what they look like.

Quite interesting are the yellow Pavlovian chickens, the color of which can be called rather red or fawn.

Well, and, finally, there are black Pavlovian chickens, which to a large extent resemble their close relatives – Siberian tufts.

Keeping chickens

The Pavlovskaya breed of chickens is not in vain very popular, because in addition to high decorative properties and fairly high egg production rates for a decorative breed, these birds are very unpretentious to the conditions of detention. What they really need is a lot of space to move around, because these chickens are unusually energetic. Therefore, it is better not to keep them in cages. The most important thing is to provide them with free walking in a sufficiently large area, since the lack of outdoor walks can adversely affect the health of Pavlovsk chickens.

Roosters of the Pavlovian breed behave quite calmly, provided that they exist in a large area, but in cramped conditions they must be separated, since they themselves may not share the living space.

Pavlovian chickens are unpretentious to feed and in the summer they can practically provide themselves with food. In winter, they, of course, need the usual good nutrition with vitamin and mineral supplements. Be sure to have chalk, shell rock and sand, in which chickens love to swim.

As you can see, the maintenance and breeding of the Pavlovian breed of chickens is not very difficult, but if you wish, you can not only join in the multiplication of the domestic heritage, which is this breed of chickens, but also enjoy admiring them, as well as an additional tasty and healthy addition to the table in the form of meat and eggs.