CHANTECLER POULTRY 



A New Breed of Poultry — Developed to Meet the Winter Conditions of the North^ 



Leon J. Cole, 

 University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 



IT IS a surprising fact that, although 

 most of our breeds of animals 

 are of relatively recent origin, the 

 exact way in which they have been 

 originated is known in but a small 

 number of instances. In earlier times 

 many breeds, like Topsy, "just growed" 

 until they came to have general recog- 

 nition ; then standards were formulated 

 and special societies organized by their 

 admirers. In more recent years several 

 breeds of poultry have been produced 

 in which the process has been a more 

 deliberate one, or at any rate, in which 

 the records have been more adequately 

 preserved. One of these, the Lamona, 

 has been fully described in this Jour- 

 nal, ^ and it may therefore be appro- 

 priate to follow this with another, 

 which has been named "Chantecler." 

 This new "creation" in the poultry 

 world is of interest because of its type 

 and the purposes it is meant to serve; 

 but not the least of interest in connec- 

 tion with it are its place of origin and 

 the circumstances connected with it.^ 



Just north of St. Anne de Bellevue 

 in the Province of Quebec the Ottawa 

 River, before sending its four arms 

 reaching out for the St. Lawrence, 

 widens into the picturesque Lake of the 

 Two Mountains. Both village and 

 lake are famous in the annals of the 

 early French explorers and fur traders. 

 On the north shores of the lake are 

 the two "mountains" which served as 

 unmistakable landmarks to the voya- 

 geurs, and from which the lake received 

 its name. They are, in reahty, two 

 large rounded, wooded hills, one 

 towards either extremity of the lake. 

 Nestled in the saddle between them, in 



an atmosphere of quiet seclusion and 

 medieval picturesqueness, is a Trap- 

 pist monastery, the silent monks in 

 their striking dress, engaged in their 

 labors and devotions, adding a touch 

 of realism to the picture. Here, too, 

 one meets a cordial welcome, and a 

 truly medieval hospitality. Connected 

 with the monastery, and under the 

 able direction of Father Leopold, is 

 the Institut Agricole d'Oka, one of the 

 two Agricultural Schools for the French 

 speaking population of the Province 

 which receive Government aid. The 

 school, which is at a little distance from 

 the monastery, is incongruously mod- 

 ern in appearance, and tends to dispel 

 the impression of medievalism that 

 one might have formed. Any such im- 

 pression is entirely destroyed when one 

 goes into the thoroughly up-to-date 

 dairy barn and looks over the excellent 

 herds of Ayrshire and Canadian cattle, 

 or when any of the other farm prac- 

 tices are inspected. In all these is a 

 modernism that is entirely at variance 

 with the first-formed impressions of 

 the place. 



In a beautiful little valley near the 

 monastery, with a rushing mountain 

 brook tumbling through it, is the 

 poultry plant, presided over by Brother 

 Wilfrid, who is the poultry husband- 

 man of the Institute. Here, then, is 

 the cradle of the "Chantecler." It 

 is a delightful setting, but from a purely 

 practical standpoint the land in the 

 valley is rather too low and damp to 

 be ideal for poultry. 



Brother Wilfrid states that his pur- 

 pose was to create a purely Canadian 

 breed, and one that should be eminently 



1 Papers from the Department of Genetics, Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station No. 35. 



^Lamon, Harry M., Lamona— A New Breed of Poultry. Journal of Heredity, XII:l-29. 

 1921. 



3 The facts used in this account are in part from a small pamphlet by Fr. M. Wilfrid, Standard, 

 Origin and Monography of the Canadian 'Chantecler,' La Trappe, P. Q. 1919, and in part from a 

 recent visit at La Trappe by the writer. The breed has also been noticed in the Rehahle Poultry 

 Journal for December, 1921. 



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