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Among the many decorative breeds of chickens, there is one completely unique breed, one of the lines of which is categorically contraindicated to fly off the perch and walk on the ground, looking for tasty worms. These are phoenix chickens – originally “invented” in China. In the Celestial Empire, a long-tailed breed of chickens, then called Fen-Huan, arose as early as the XNUMXst millennium AD.
In this country, which is also the birthplace of Feng Shui, according to this system of arranging household items, a Phoenix chicken should live in the southern part of the yard to attract good luck.
She lives. Only judging by the landscape, good luck from her is not enough.
To be fair, ancient Fen Huan’s tails were shorter.
Over time, phoenixes came to the Japanese islands, where they were renamed Yokohama-toshi and Onagadori, occupying a high position in the imperial court. After that, the arms race began, in the sense of the struggle for the superior length of the cock’s tail.
To date, the Japanese line of the Phoenix breed already wears 10-meter tails. The Japanese sarcastically promise to lengthen the rooster’s tail to 16 m. Why they need this is not clear, since even now the rooster is deprived of the ability to move because of the tail. To walk on its own paws, the Japanese phoenix rooster needs a special person to support the tail. If it is not possible to hire a person, you can wind papillottes around the tail. The Japanese keep roosters in narrow and high cages. The width of the cage is not more than 20 cm, the depth is 80 cm. The chickens raise food and water directly to the perch.
Feathers in chickens, like in any birds, change twice a year, and the tails would not have had time to grow to such a length if it were not for the Japanese geneticist who was involved in breeding the breed, who managed to find and “turn off” the gene responsible for the seasonal change of feathers in phoenixes.
As a result, the older the rooster, the longer its tail. The oldest rooster at the age of 17 years has a tail 13 m long.
Thus, the feng shui symbol of good luck is a bird suffering from hypodynamia and improper metabolism, enclosed in a single cage. Somehow luck is usually presented differently.
The video clearly shows how “happy” the bird itself is with such a tail, even if it has the opportunity to walk
Fortunately, or unfortunately, such long-tailed chickens are almost impossible to get. In Japan, they are forbidden to kill and sell, the transfer of the phoenix chicken to other hands is possible only as a result of an exchange.
Practical Germans did not pursue the size of the tail of the phoenix, leaving the maximum length up to 3 m. Basically, it is the German line that is widespread in the world. Although the tails of the roosters are shorter, there are enough problems here too. With a tail up to one and a half – two meters, the rooster is still able to cope on its own, with the growth of a longer tail, the owner will have to walk his pet in his arms.
Phoenix chicken breed standard
The standard describes the German breed line of Japanese chickens.
GENERAL APPEARANCE: A slender graceful hen with a long tail which is a hallmark of the breed. A rooster weighs 2-2,5 kg, a chicken – 1,5-2 kg.
Breed characteristics of a rooster
The slender, proud-looking phoenix rooster makes an impression. An almost straight-set body with a wide and long back, narrower near the waist, gives it a proud look. The tail, set low, fluffy and flat from the sides, does not weigh down the silhouette of the rooster, although it has an extreme length. Although the tail of young roosters has not yet reached its full size, however, even for one-year-olds it should be at least 90 cm. An adult bird flaunts tail feathers up to 3 m.
The small head of a phoenix rooster, with its simple, standing and low comb, can be used as a model for stylized drawings of rooster heads. The combination of dark orange eyes with a gray-blue beak is very interesting. The beak can also be pale yellow, but this combination is no longer interesting. The beak is medium in size.
Further, the coloration of the cock’s head continues with small white lobes and medium-sized red earrings.
The neck of the rooster is of medium length covered with luxurious, very long and narrow feathers, reaching even on the back. On the lower back, feathers do not stop growing throughout the life of a rooster, and old phoenixes flaunt a feather that falls to the ground.
The phoenix cock keeps its wings tightly pressed to the body, preferring to move on legs with medium-sized shins covered with a dense feather layer.
The thin bones of the limbs usually indicate the lightness of the skeleton. There cannot be a powerful spur on a thin metatarsus, so phoenixes flaunt graceful but long spurs.
The belly of the phoenix rooster is hidden by long feathers of the lower back and is not visible from the side. It should be noted that the phoenix has stiff and narrow feathers.
Breed characteristics of chickens
Phoenix chickens are smaller and sleeker, with a lower body. The head is adorned only with a small erect comb and small earrings. Set horizontally, laterally flat, the tail is shorter than the cock’s, but also differs in length unusual for chickens. The tail feathers are saber-shaped and quite decent for a chicken of any other breed of length. The tail is very bushy with long coverts rounded at the ends, capable of covering the tail feathers. For chickens, spurs on the legs are not a disadvantage.
Exterior flaws for phoenix chickens
Common to other breeds of chickens, red earlobes are a vice for the phoenix. A short pen is also unacceptable. This is especially true of the mane, lower back and tail of phoenixes. Are disqualifying wide braids in the tail of a phoenix rooster. Phoenix metatarsus can only be dark; Phoenix chickens with yellow or white metatarsus are culled from breeding.
Colors
The Phoenix breed standard provides for five color options: wild, orange-maned, white, silver-maned and golden-maned. The phoenixes in the photo give an idea of what the different colors of these chickens look like.
wild color
Cock. The general impression of the color is brown. Under the color of the earth in the forest. The black-brown color of the head turns into a red-brown with black streaks along the feather shaft color of the neck. The back and wings are similar in color to chernozem. The loin is the same color as the neck. Flight feathers: first order – black; the second order is brown. The only decoration of the “wild” rooster” is the tail and mirrors on the wings that shimmer with emerald luster. The lower part of the body is black, the lower legs are dark gray.
A hen. Camouflage, dismembering-mottled coloration. The black color of the head on the neck gradually turns into brown through the addition of a narrow brown border to the feathers. The plumage of the upper part of the body is speckled. The predominant color is brown with a black speck that shimmers with green. The feathers are brown, on the upper part of the body without a black border, but with a light core. The chest is chestnut in color with small black dots. The belly and lower legs are grey-black. The tail is black.
The color is less common than others. Perhaps because the word “wild” scares away.
“Wild” and silver-maned
orange-maned
Cock. If not for the tail, it would be an ordinary village rooster with orange plumage on the neck, lower back and head. The wings and back are dark brown. The flight feather of the first order is black, the second is pale yellow on the outside. Black mirrors and a tail cast an emerald sheen. The lower part of the body and lower legs are black.
A hen. The head is brown. The dark color of the plumage of the head on the neck smoothly turns into yellow-orange with black speckling. The upper part of the body, including the wings, is a warm brown with fine black speckling and light feather bars. The chest is a muted carrot color. The belly and lower legs are grey. The tail is black.
White
Pure white color without the slightest admixture of another color. In the Phoenix breed, yellow feathers are not allowed.
White
Silvermane
Cock. When looking at the bird, one gets the impression that from head to tail the phoenix cock is wrapped in a silver-white mantle. The feathers on the head, neck and lower back are cast with a sheen of either silver or platinum. The back and wings are white. Arguing with silver, the second half of the rooster, covered with black plumage, shimmers with emerald radiance. The flight feather of the first order is black, the second is white on the outside.
A young, unmolted hen.
A hen. The chicken is much more modest. A white feather with a platinum sheen on the head descends to the neck, diluted with black strokes. The body is dark brown with a beige chest, which becomes somewhat brighter with older age, turning into a muted orange color. The tail is pure black, without shades. The belly and lower legs are grey.
Silvermane
golden-maned
Cock. The color is almost the same. Like an orange-maned, but the color of the feather on the head, neck and lower back is not orange, but yellow. Plus, a metallic sheen is added.
A hen. Like the rooster, the color is similar to the color of the orange-maned variant, but the color scheme has a bias not in the red spectrum, but in yellow.
Productive characteristics of the breed
Egg production 100 light yellow eggs per year weighing from 45 g. Phoenix meat has good taste characteristics if someone raises their hand to slaughter a chicken.
pygmy phoenixes
On the basis of Japanese and Bentham chickens, all the same Germans bred the “pygmy phoenix” breed.
The description, appearance and colors of the pygmy phoenix are no different from its large counterparts. The difference is only in weight, productivity and proportionally shortened tail length.
The weight of dwarf cockerels is 0,8 kg, chickens – 0,7 kg. The length of the tail is up to 1,5 m versus 3 meters in a large phoenix. Egg production is about 60 yellowish eggs with a weight of 25 g.
Feeding
Feeding phoenixes is no different than feeding any other chicken breed. Phoenixes are happy to consume soft food, which is best given in the morning, and grain at night. Phoenix chickens are usually fed twice a day. If phoenix chickens are fattened for meat, then you can feed more often.
Breeding
There is an opinion that phoenix hens are useless mothers, so eggs need to be selected and hatched in an incubator. Perhaps this is true. Maybe the fact is that almost all phoenixes were bred in an incubator, without communicating with a mother hen. Oddly enough, but the best hens are those chickens that were themselves bred under a hen. Chickens hatched in an incubator often lack this instinct. With phoenixes, in this case, a vicious circle is obtained: buying an incubator egg – an incubator – a chicken – a laying hen – an incubator.
You can open it by conducting an experiment and bringing the phoenix out under another laying hen. But usually now prefer to use incubators.
Features of maintenance and walking
Because of the long tails, phoenixes need to make special perches at a height of 2-3 m. There is no need to worry about walking. Phoenixes are very frost-resistant and are happy to walk in the snow, reluctantly entering the room. Nevertheless, to prevent freezing of chickens, the place of spending the night must be insulated.
In general, with the exception of fiddling with a long tail, the phoenix is an unpretentious and hassle-free chicken that even beginners can start.