Welcome to the Campine Page

 

Very early Silver Campines

Welcome to my page devoted to the breeding and raising of the legendary Campine Fowl.

Campines are a rare breed of chicken that originated in Belgium. The American Livestock Conservancy, which actively monitors the populations of heritage breeds of poultry and livestock list the Campine Fowl as a breed with a "critical" status. In their 2015 poultry census, the organization counted less than 500 breeding Campines in the United States, making them one of the rarest of all heritage poultry breeds. As best as can be established, only about 200 breeding age Campines can be found in the hands of private breeders in the country.

Despite this, a century ago, the Campines were fast becoming one of the most popular breeds of poultry raised in the United States at that time. In 1915, the now long defunct American Campine Club had over 500 members and it was widely believed that the Campine would actually surpass the White Leghorn and other well known egg producing breeds in its popularity in a few short years. A century later, it remains a great mystery why the Campine slipped into such obscurity from such a dazzling height.

Campines come in two sub-varieties, the Silver Campine and the Golden Campine, which differ only in their background color. They are considered a "Light" variety of Continental Large Fowl and were developed by Belgian peasants who lived on the sandy, poor soiled plains of the Campine region where they were raised for their eggs and meat. Campines are believed to be descended from the same ancestor as its heavier and rarer "cousin", the Braekel Fowl, which closely resembles the Campines, but is yet again larger and heavier. Most early poultry writers suggest that both breeds are probably closely related to the famous Hamburg Fowl, which they resemble somewhat in markings.



A trio of Silver Campines

Despite being smaller than most traditional heritage breeds, Campines are legendary for their ability to lay large quantities of snow-white eggs that are remarkable for their extremely fine, clear color, as well as for their size in relation to their comparatively light body. Early breeders regarded Campines as "Miracle Layers" for the simple fact that it seemed miraculous that hens of their size could lay such large eggs. Historically, Campines of exhibition stock (not cultivated exclusively for egg production), performed relatively well in organized egg laying contests around the period of World War One, with many hens laying in excess of 200 eggs a year. In an age before the vast improvement of White Leghorns and the creation of modern hybrids, this was far more than respectable.

 

Though not really known as a meat breed due to their somewhat smaller size compared to the others, the Campines are also known for their exceptional quality meat. They are white skinned and have a very firm flesh somewhat similar to the Bresse and the Barbezieux which are legendary French "table breeds" that demand immense prices in European markets because they are known as the finest tasting chickens in the world. In fact, even the French honored this breed in many old recipe books with the designation "Fowl a Campine", which was literally a recipe for "Fat Pullet with Onions". Despite the fact that the Campine, being classified as a "Light Breed", is smaller bodied than most breeds cultivated for meat, they have a much higher meat to bone ratio than most other breeds and grow rapidly. In fact, when processed as fryers, the Campine often dresses out heavier than many traditional breeds. With their firm flesh, white skin and their flavorful, yet tender meat, Campine fryers, especially when fattened in the same manner as Bresse are, are a gourmet lover's delight. 

 

S.V.E. Martling's famous Campine Farm in 1916

Possibly the Campine's most unique quality is that due to natural selection in their Belgian homeland, they get by on remarkably little, are extremely hardy and do well in adverse conditions. They are exceptional foragers and though they will do perfectly fine in captivity, they truly excel when they are allowed to free range and fend for themselves. Also of particular interest, is that even if kept in the confinement of a secure run, they require relatively little in the way of feed, while at the same time, if allowed to free range, forage so exceptionally, that they require even less. In fact, this unique ability to require such little feed was so well known among experienced Campine breeders in the early 20th Century, that they were quick to point out to would-be Campine breeders, that great care should be taken not to overfeed them. As the famous breeder S.V.E. Martling of Ridgefield, New Jersey explained to readers of Poultry Success in June of 1916, in an article about the Martling Hennery, he stated that: "I believe the Campines are one of the most wonderful fowl in existence today. Very few people realize the wonderful possibilities in them. There is no breed of fowl that will produce as fine eggs and as many for equal amount of cost. The great trouble has been inferior stock, which has been bred only for feather, and ignorance on the part of the breeder in proper feeding and taking care of them. Campines do best when they have to work for every grain of food that they consume, and I have found, for best results, they only need from 12 to 14 cents worth of food per month. Most people feed their Campines too much, and do not give them any exercise or work." Much the same, Silver Campine breeder, John Miller of Canton, Ohio explained in his article "Campines Supreme" (The Poultry Item, November 1914) "The most remarkable feature of the Campine is the very small amount they eat. For a pen of 15 females, I feed one half pint of oats and wheat in the morning, and a good handful of sprouted oats about 10 AM. The dry mash hopper is opened at noon. At night I feed one pint of oats, wheat and cracked-corn, making one and a half pints of grain for a day's feed of 15 pullets".

Another view of S.V.E. Martling's Campine Farm

In an article about S.V.E. Martling in the September, 1916 edition of Country Life in America, entitled "A Village Poultry Plant", poultry expert F.H. Valentine explains Martling's Campine breeding operation and goes into some good detail about his feeding regime for the NINE HUNDRED adult Campines that Martling kept. According to the figures provided, Martling was mixing and feeding 2095 pounds of feed (grains and a home-mixed mash)per month. Added to this, Martling was a real pioneer in the use of growing sprouted grains/young fodder in cabinet style drawers for his poultry and also fed cabbages to his Campines when they were available to him, which would have been seasonally. In addition to this, though Martling kept his birds confined, he also used what must have been a very elaborate paddock system which allowed each pen of birds to access a paddock every other day. Based on the figures that Martling provided for the article, his average Campine was only consuming 2.327 pounds of scratch and mash (combined) per month. This figure is less than one quarter of what one recent study by Nutrena Feeds suggests the average producing hen will eat in a month, which one source states is just less than 10 pounds of feed. Though the figures that Martling provided, seem so low that they sound like a truly ridiculous exaggeration, S.V.E. Martling was no ordinary chicken keeper. He was in fact, a breeder who was well ahead of his time, bred and exhibited his Campines as a business (and a very successful one at that) and was legendary in poultry circles for his honesty and the guarantees that he offered to his hatching egg customers. As a result, we have no reason to question what Martling reported about his operation or the amount of feed that his Campines were consuming. Though it is clear that Martling was making full advantage of the ability of his Campines to forage, it is also crystal clear from his and other breeder's writings, that Campines do indeed thrive on an amount of feed that would probably reduce most other breeds to ill health and low or little production, if not practically starvation.

For the above described reasons alone, the Campine Fowl should really be among the most popular of poultry breeds kept in this country, especially when you add to these characteristics the Campine's truly beautiful color and markings. Like Sebright Bantams, the Campine is "hen feathered" and the Golden Campine and the Silver Campine differ only in their basic ground color. Both have striking beetle-green colored black barring covering their entire body, wings and tail, with the spaces between each bar being either a silvery-white (Silver Campine) or gold coloration (Golden Campine). The hackles (which are hen feathered in the roosters) are either a bright silvery-white or golden depending on which variety. They are single combed, although rose combed Campines did once exist in the 19th century, with white ear lobes and a striking blue-grey shank and toes, all of which really stand out against the contrast of their beautiful plumage.

If you are looking for a rare and beautiful breed of chicken that is capable of foraging and producing a large quantity of eggs, as well as gourmet meat, then the Campine may be just the breed for you.