Sebright

 

The Sebright is a British breed of bantam chicken. The Sebright is a true bantam, meaning that there is no larger variety. It is one of the oldest recorded British bantam breeds. The Sebright was created by Sir John Saunders Sebright as an ornamental variety in the 19th century through selective breeding. 

Sebright were the first poultry breed to have a dedicated club for enthusiasts and were accepted to poultry exhibition standards shortly after their establishment. Today they are one of the most popular bantam varieties. There is a lot of scholarly literature written about Sebrights and their difficult breeding; studies have recorded how some of its particular traits are inherited. The Sebright, largely kept for ornamental purposes, lays small, white eggs and is not used as a meat production bird.

History

Sebright wanted to create a very small bantam chicken with laced plumage, much like that of the laced Polish hen. There is no certainty as to the exact parentage of the breed, but he is believed to have created the gold Sebright by crossing a buff Nankin bantam hen, with a small hen-like buff gold-spangled Hamburgh hen, and a small hen-feathered Pit Game cock; later, he may have created the silver Sebright by crossing his golds with a white Rosecomb cock acquired from the new Zoological Gardens of the Zoological Society of London (established in 1826). It is also possible that the hen-feathering trait came from the Belgian Campine breed, rather than from the Pit Game. In about 1810, Sebright founded the Sebright Bantam Club, the first single-breed association for chickens. In 1853, the Sebright was described in the Poultry Book of William Wingfield and George William Johnson, with an illustration by Harrison Weir, which was later included in the Standard of Excellence in Exhibition Poultry of William Bernhard Tegetmeier in 1865, and in the first Standard of Perfection of the American Poultry Association in 1874.[citation needed] Today it remains one of the ten most popular bantam chickens according to the American Bantam Association.

Characteristics

The Sebright, as intended by its creator, is an ornamental bantam, and is mostly seen in exhibition poultry. All Sebrights are true bantams, and all are quite small in size; the average weight is 620 g for males and 570 g for females. Their short backs, relatively large breasts, and wings pointed downwards come together into a sharp, jaunty posture.

There are two colour varieties recognised in the UK which are gold and silver, both of which are typically dark gold or whitish silver in base, evenly Edged with black. In a few of the European countries, different colours have been produced: a black-laced lemon Sebright became a sport in Holland in the mid-century, and also a chamois or white-laced buff was bred towards the century's end; the latter recognised by the Entente Européenne. The birds all have unfeathered legs with slate blue skin behind and are ideally a dark horn colour for their beak. The cocks are cocks have rose combs with fine points and a little spike at the rear of their head (a leader). The combs, earlobes and wattles were originally purple, and in fancy show standard could be referred to as mulberry, but nowadays they are mostly bright red though mulberry is still desirable according to most countries standards. Some breeders argue that hen feathering adversely affects male Sebrigtht's fertility and, if only for breeding purposes, would use a cock that carried irregular feature of hen feathering, though at a show they would automatically be disqualified.

Sebrights are one of only a handful of chicken breeds that are the only hen-feathered breed of cock, meaning the cocks do not exhibit the long sickle-shaped feathers important in the tail, neck, and saddle of most cocks. The unique hen-feathering trait makes the Sebright bantam a valuable model organism for molecular biologists working on sex hormones because they show a mutation that results in their tissues converting an atypically large amount of male P7 sex hormones (androgens) into female sex hormones (oestrogens).

Husbandry

Sebrights are not particularly good meat birds, nor prolific egg layers - hens lay about 60-80 cream white eggs a year. They can be quite challenging to raise especially for beginners. Hens are rarely broody and chicks usually die at high rates. Adults are quite hardy in temperate areas but susceptible to Marek's disease. As with other bantams they will fly fairly well, so theyre often kept fenced and not allowed to free-range. Sometimes males are born sterile because of their genetics which complicates breeding too.