Sulmtaler Sulmtaler The Sulmtaler is an Austrian breed of domestic chicken. It originates in the Sulmtal, the valley of the Sulm river, in southern Styria, in the south-east of Austria, and takes its name from that valley. Like the Altsteirer, the Sulmtaler derives from the country chickens raised in Styria, particularly in the Kainachtal, the Lassnitztal, the Sulmtal and the Saggautal. In the second half of the nineteenth century these were subjected to massive cross-breeding with imported Cochin, Dorking and Houdan stock to create heavy meat birds for fattening. In about 1900 some breeders brought together the small remaining stock of
Cochin chicken the Cochin is the excessive plumage that covers leg and foot. The skin beneath the feathers is yellow. In the United Kingdom the recognised colour varieties, for large fowl only, are black, blue, buff, cuckoo, partridge and grouse, and white; Cochin bantams are not recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain. The Entente Européenne lists the same nine colours for full-sized Cochins, and twenty-four for the bantam; any of the bantam varieties may be frizzled, with the feathers curling outwards. The American Poultry Association recognises nine colours for the full-sized bird – barred, black, blue, brown, buff, golden-laced, partridge,