Brian Reeder: The Langshan

The Langshan

OK. I have to admit that I am very biased here. I think the langshan is the ultimate chicken and the best breed in existence, at this time. They have changed less than any of the Asiatics since they were first imported from China.

The langshan was first imported to the West in the 1870's. Immediately a controversy arose around them, as many breeders claimed they were nothing but "bad black Cochin". They were much like the early black Cochin of the 1840's/50's had looked and undoubtedly the black Cochin and black java were derived from langshan to some extent. One thing which set the langshan apart from the rest of the Asiatics was their white foot pad, as opposed to yellow legs in the others.

The langshan has never had the popularity in show circles that the Cochin and Brahma have suffered from. It is the popularity of the the Cochin and Brahma as show fowl which has seen them mutated into fairly useless birds which are very over-feathered and thus are really not at all the fowl which were first imported one hundred fifty years ago. Due to having less popularity (and I count that a blessing!) the langshan is still a productive and useful bird, generally speaking. In spite of that, there are still some show lines which are very poor for resistance, vigor, production but all in all, there are many more productive langshan than Cochin or exhibition Brahma.

The langshan is the most beautiful of the Asiatics. The black have a tremendous green sheen and the adult cock bird can have tail feathers up to 18" - 24". The tail is carried at a very high angle and the feathering of the back, cushion/saddle and hackle fill in to make what appears to be a very short U shaped back. Yet, the back is in fact not short, and is no shorter than the back of any of the Asiatics. The form of the langshan is actually an illusion, caused by the high tail angle (which all the Asiatics originally had) and the full feathering. The legs are less feathered than the modern Cochin or Brahma and are like the leg feathering of all the original Asiatics. The langshan has only one dominant leg feathering gene.

The langshan is a major ancestor of the modern show Minorcas, Black Orpingtons, Australorps and figure to a lesser extent in many of the American Breed varieties. The langshan is standard in black, white and blue in the US. In Europe there are different forms of Langshan; Croad langshan (which is very similar to our langshan in US) and "Modern Langshan" which are very tall and extreme. The Langshan of Australia are completely different from any of the langshan in the US or Europe. In countries other than the US, there are more varieties of langshan than the black, white and blue. The langshan still exists in China, in the Lan Shan mountain area.

The langshan is a wonderful and enjoyable bird to keep as they are a very nice balanced, calm bird. They are able to fly high up to perch and are a strong and good survivor. They tend to be hardy birds with good cold tolerance, and heat tolerance. They produce a beautiful dark egg, and all the dark egg breeds such as Maran, Welsummer and Barnevelder descend from langshan. When first imported, the langshan layed the darkest egg ever seen in the West.

One other point to think about with the langshan is that is makes one of the best outcrosses possible for a great many large fowl breeds.

Below you will find a group of pictures and art showing the langshan during it's history in America.

1880´s & 1887:

1890´s, 1891 & 1902:

1907 & 1912:

1912 & 1913:

1913:

1914 & 1915:

1915 & 1917:

1920:

above: This bird from 1920 is either a cross of langshan and Malay or is one of the English Modern Langshan of that time period.

1921 & 1922:

1930 & 1944:

1949 & Croad Langshan:

2003:

Here at AVALON FARMS, we love the langshan. We are beginning to get a good flock of Langshan, in all the colors they come in, developed. Unlike the Cochin and Brahma, there is much less that has to be done just to make them good birds. They are good birds already. Thus we are focusing on high U back type, production, fertility and resistance/vigor, but they are good already, so we are really just "tweaking" them. We expect to have langshan to offer for sell in 2005. Below you can see a group of pictures of our main flock sire. He is an extremely fine bird in all ways and we are using him to improve our white and blue Langshan. We have brought in six different lines of langshan in order to form our flocks. We feel this is the ultimate bird...EVER!! We will be adding many more pictures of our own lines over time. Keep an eye out for them!!

This is BRAN, our main flock sire in langshan. He is an excellent bird in every way having high resistance, fertility, prepotency and very nice type. Note the very high tail and the very high U back.

Navigation Links:

Asiatics *** History *** Cushions & Bustles
Brahma *** Cochin *** Langshan

Top

last update: 14. Oct 2009