Started Golden Laced Wyandottes

Golden Laced Wyandottes are beautiful and very useful dual-purpose heritage chickens. They are stocky and well-balanced birds with unusual lace-patterned plumage in black and golden brown. They make a wonderful backyard or homesteading birds.

Production: A true dual-purpose chicken, a Golden Laced Wyandotte is a good layer of large light-brown eggs and is also a solid choice as a table bird. They lay about 200 eggs per year. They are slow-growing, but fill out nicely and offer high-quality meat.

Temperament: Wyandottes are calm and friendly and very interactive with people. They are also active and efficient foragers. Their docile disposition allows them to get along well with other chickens, even in confined spaces. Hens occasionally go broody, but they make good mothers.

History: The Wyandotte breed is named for the North American tribe prevalent in parts of upstate New York and Ontario, Canada. Silver Laced Wyandottes were the first color of Wyandotte recognized by the APA. The Silver Laced variety was developed in the middle of the 19th century. The exact origins are convoluted at this point, but it seems to have been a mixture of Sebright, Dark Brahma, Cochin, and Spangled Hamburgs. Other breeds were then incorporated over time to manipulate the size and add the variety of colors and patterns that we now have.

In 1880, Omro, Wisconsin native Joseph McKeen called himself the original breeder of Golden Laced Wyandotte. McKeen crossed Silver Laced Wyandotte hens with a large patterned "Black Red" fowl called the 'Winnebago.' Eight years later, the Golden Laced Wyandotte was admitted to the American Standard.

Colors: Golden Laced Wyandotte feathers are a sable-gold color outlined in a lacing of lustrous black with a green sheen. They have a black tail and yellow legs and skin. The face, wattles, and ears are bright red.

Conservation Status: Recovering

Body Type: A large bird with a well-rounded and well-balanced body - nice, neat, cobby appearance with soft feathers but not as loose and fluffy as a Cochin. The tail is rounded and short but full and wide. Wyandottes have a low and tight rose style comb, which helps make them very winter hardy. Legs are stout and thick and set squarely.

Weight: Cockerel 7.5 lbs, Pullet 5.5 lbs

APA Class: American, Golden Laced variety admitted in 1888.