History of the Chantecler, from Chantecler Fanciers International.
The Chantecler breed was developed in the early 1900s by Rev. Brother M. Wilfrid of the Okra Agricultural Institute in La Trappe, Quebec. He sought to create, “a breed of poultry able to resist our severe winters would be appreciated by all Canadian poultrymen. My ideal, therefore, was to originate a bird really Canadian and eminently practical. Having its individual characteristics and particular qualities, without any fantastic or whimsical features. Knowing by experience how roosters’ combs are damaged by our heavy frosts, I wished to obtain a new type with comb and wattles reduced to the minimum. Preferring utility birds, I wanted my new breed to have an abundance of succulent flesh, and to be, at the same time, a good layer, especially a good winter layer.”
Breeds that went into development of the original White Chantecler include the Dark Cornish, White Leghorn, Rhode Island Red, White Wyandotte, and White Plymouth Rock. The White Chantecler was admitted into the American Poultry Association Standard of Perfection in 1921.
Dr. J. E. Wilkinson of Alberta developed the Partridge variety decades later by crossing the Partridge Wyandotte, Partridge Cochin, Dark Cornish, and the Rose Comb Brown Leghorn. Partridge Chanteclers were admitted into the Standard in 1935.
Quebec Heritage News
May/June 2006
Origin of the Canadian “Chantecler” Fowl
by Rev. Brother M. Wilfrid at the 1928 World’s Poultry Congress, La Trappe, P.Q., Canada
Chantecler Poultry
by Michel Boulianne – Canada
Origins of the Partridge Chantecler
by Percival J. Timms (1935)
