CHAPTER XIV 



GOLDEN LACED WYANDOTTES 



A richly colored fowl of pronounced vigor — Originated from a Silver 



Wyandotte base — Progress that has been made in the color of Golden 



Wyandottes — Improvement in type — How to mate 



The Golden Wyandotte has from the beginning been a fowl of 

 unusual vigor. Some people have held an unverified but traditional 

 theoi'y that a black-red fowl is naturally strong. Such are the colors 

 of that progenitor of the domesticated races, the jungle fowl. 



It has also been said that black and red are easier colors for 

 the breeder to handle than are black and white. T. E. Orr, who 

 bred both Silver and Golden Wyandottes, was the first to comment 

 on the relative facility with which the two varieties could be bred; 

 and while he was more prominent as a Silver breeder, he spoke of 

 the feasibility with which black and red could be handled. Fewer 

 breeders of the first rank, however, have bred Golden Wyandottes; 

 while a long list of able breeders, including many of the most capable 

 that America has known, have been attracted to the Silver Wyandotte. 



The Golden Laced Wyandotte is a duplicate of the Silver Laced, 

 done in black and red. In the Silver, the ground color of the laced 

 feather is white, which is laced with a narrow band of black; in the 

 Golden, the ground color of the laced feather is golden-bay, which 

 is laced with a similar edging of black. 



The initial popularity of the Wyandottes led to a multiplication 

 of varieties, and continued popularity of the breed accounts for the 

 increase in the members of the Wyandotte family. The Golden was 

 the second variety of the breed to be presented to the public. It 

 was accepted as a Standard variety in 1888. 



Origin. The early Golden Wyandotte carried at least half the 

 blood of the original Silver Wyandottes as bred by L. H. Whittaker, 

 of Michigan. They were originated by Joseph McKeen, of Omro, 

 Winnebago County, Wisconsin. In 1879 Mr. McKeen procured sev- 

 eral sittings of American Sebright eggs from Whittaker. He already 

 has some crossbred fowls which he called Winnebagoes. These 

 Winnebagoes had been started about seven years previous, when 

 McKeen had let a family named O'Neil have some Buff Cochin and 

 Golden Sebright bantam eggs. The chickens that the O'Neils raised 

 fiom these eggs were allowed to run together. 



A few years later, McKeen found that the O'Neils had some 

 "Buff Cochins with yellow legs, rose combs, light leg feathering, and 

 a slight show of lacing on some specimens." McKeen secured some 

 of these buff hens and mated to them a cockerel that had been pro- 



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