Campine chicken

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.