THE AUSTRALIAN PEKIN BANTAM
A little history and origins ... 
The birds are said to have arrived in England as a result of the sacking of the Emperors Palace in Peking China by the British and were said to be the original Buff colour. And of the Bantam vari-ety most likely quite removed from the type we now know to be the Pekin or Cochin. The British named the fowl the Peking Fowl
However due to the British dialects and the dropping of the "ing" on many words ,soon the Peking Fowl became known as the Pekin fowl in an English accent, hence the name as we know it evolved from a particular language dialect
It was further revealed that the breed crossed the Pacific to Australia via ships in the early 1800’s and also across the ocean to America where the breed is formally known as the Cochin and is seen in both Large fowl variety and the Bantam. In Australia the large fowl Cochin development is in its infancy but some good specimens are seen . CD The Americans have long had the Large Cochin an have developed it in many different colours
Much development has occurred within the Breed in America, England the U K and Australia, Germany having appeared to specialise in colour breeding development in early stages as has America, Where The Australians seem to have focussed on type development. Exchange of birds obviously occurred between the countries.
In Australia today, and since those early beginnings, the Pekin Bantam as we know it has un-dergone a tremendous transformation into the Bantam we now know and see on the Australian Showbench. Now, the pekin is a full and rounded bantam with profuse feathering and presents with a moulded appearance as we see in the enclosed pictures. The Pekin Bantam comes in a vast array of colours than were present in the early days in Australia, even in the 1950’s and 60’s. We now see as standardised colours, some 30 different colours varieties of Pekin bantam which are catered for by the Specialist clubs Australia-wide. Rarer colours such as Lavenders, Cuckoo lavenders, wheatens ,furnace and Reds are now emerging on the Showbench creating an amaz-ing selection for enthusiastic fanciers' to take up and breed. Many of the newer colour relate to the Old English game, or Wyandotte colour standards ,so identification can be relatively easy.
By far the most popular colours for exhibition would be the Black, the white. the Buff and Blue col-ours. In all but the Buff variety, it has been relatively easy to achieve very close to perfection with many exhibits from these popular colours, achieving huge show successes including many best in show awards. The Buff colour has presented the biggest obstacle in achieving Standard type re-quirements, and this is often linked with the fact that the Buff was the original colour imported to the UK and it is thought that the genes for type deficiencies are locked into that colour.
In Australia today, many Pekin Bantam Specialist clubs foster the breed in all states which has naturally improved the status of the breed and the popularity. The Pekin Bantam would be in the top three Softfeather bantam breeds along with the Wyandotte and the Langshan.
In essence there are two types of Pekin bantams, those that are highly bred for the Show bench by dedicated breeders and those that a purely kept for pleasure by many backyard enthusiasts. The backyard enthusiast t certainly has his or her place in the world of Pekin bantams as much enjoyment is gained from this charming ornamental breed, and it is a particularly popular bird for children because of its predominantly docile nature. For the amateur enthusiast ,housing feeding can be relatively simple, the birds can be housed in relative confined spaces with ample exer-cise area ,dry floor litter and an inexpensive well balanced com-mercially purchased ration.
On the other hand, highly bred Pekin bantams suitable for the Showbench require far more attention to detail. Housing and bedding must be such that the birds feathers are preserved for show, Males are separated from females for several reasons, to pre-serve the feather quality in the females due to mating , and the footings of the males, and to as-sist breeders to artificially inseminate the Pekins and predominantly, around the show sea-son, the maintain a level of cleanliness in the birds to assist in show preparation.
The feeding process for Exhibition pekins varies considerable to that of the backyard variety. Higher protein feeds are fed to the birds with added vitamins during the breeding and Showing season. Most good livestock feed merchants will be able to recommend the correct feed for exhi-bition stock, or alternatively consult with some of the more successful prominent breeders to find out what they are feeding their exhibition stock.
The breeding process with exhibition Pekins is of course more complex than the backyard enthusiast.
A linkage mating process is often utilised by a number of the more successful exhibitors and breeders. In simple terms, Linkage mating consists of breeding the best to the best within a line of animals and linking (in this case) birds that are related to improve and perpetuate the qualities already in place and deep within a line The practice fosters an avoidance to over usage of outcrosses into the bloodline
"Systematic Breeding always reaps success. Some of the most important aspects of breeding purebred animals is an adherence to Type, conformation, Soundness and Temperament.
All of the above three go hand in hand with structure, movement and conformation and are reliant upon correct skeletal conformation. I have found that in any animal whatsoever, if the hips, spine, limbs or breastbone are out of alignment and/or are genetically malformed this will definitely affect the Breed type of the animal and the visual impression I first get when viewing the animal.
Many people when acquiring new animals to breed with say ‘oh well maybe that structural fault will get better’, but it very seldom does and one is best not to assume that it may not be genetically inherited because it is more often than not passed down from generation to generation and that will continue. In my observa-tions in Pekins for example I have noted angulated breast bone and flat across the back with no cushion rise which undoubtedly stems from inherited structural irregularity. Breeding for uniform-ity and consistency is like building blocks, selecting the blocks that fit in neat and assist the overall structure, and once one is thrown in that is out of balance or not structurally correct then the whole building can tumble.
This easily relates to building a line of birds that need to be continually relied upon as if one bird is used over several consecutive or alternate years in a breeding program and has a structural fault then this, just like a good quality will be stamped in the line by him /her & their progeny and diffi-cult to breed out.
In the early days much could be learned from an animal breeder by the name of Tom Tancred who advocated that I should always adhere to a "benchmark" of the breed, in other words use the best I can procure, initially to commence (and of course in selection from within, thereafter) He told me in the beginning that the nucleus or the heart of any stud will always eventually be a group of related females predominantly (and males) that have the bench-mark traits and who are shown to breed these qualities into their offspring
Terms regarding types and methods of breeding :
Out-Cross - Means that all participants or lines used within a mating are totally unrelated. Some-where along the line all of us will make an outcross for many reasons and often this mating may produce what I call a "flyer" or "jump out of the box" good quality animal More often than not these do not always breed on true and it is the skill of the breeder by taking the outcross progeny back into the established line and mating to a n animal that is related to one of the 2 used in the origi-nal outcross
Line Breeding Using the same animal or bird in a Pedigree breeding program that are related, but not closely related, for example Cousin X cousin as mentioned in this article
In Breeding - Means that the same animals/birds are used a number of times repeatedly in the breeding program each successive year In breeding Is in fact closer form of line breeding e.g. Brother X sister, father X daughter & Son x mother
Back crossing - Involves matings such as Father daughter, Mother to son & Grandparent to grand-children
Locking in the best qualities of your Bloodline once you have created something you wish top per-petuate will come from using a nucleus of related females and matching them to males that have in them, the qualities you want "fix" or improve upon in the female and those points that you want to perpetuate that quality within the bloodline.
Parasites
Inevitably, because of the fact that Pekin bantams are so profusely feathered in both body and footings and are so close to the ground, they usually fall prey to many parasites that pervade poul-try sheds and the ground. Lice and Mites being the most popular predators. A very popular and successful produced used by many fanciers over the past few years has been Swift.
This product also eliminates the many varieties of common lice and feather mite so it is a multi faceted product. "Swift" is an insecticidal pour on for horses .."As an aid for the control of syn-thetic pyrethroid susceptible nuisance flies and itch on horses"
Active Constituent : Permethrin (CISTRANS 80:20) 250 ML Bottle
The method of treatment I have adopted is by using an eye dropper, one drop on the skin above and be-low the vent and one drop on the skin behind the neck.
I have found this treatment 100% effective ,required only once each 6 months and absolutely no need to combine any other form of chemical treatment or mist spraying to gain 100% effective-ness. Most importantly there is no need to touch or treat any litter, bedding or poultry sheds.
We need to bear in mind with both these pests, treating the bedding or sheds is time consuming and barely effective, the pests need a blood host to survive so treat the host with a safe residual chemical and you will eradicate the visitors without a doubt.
Additionally we are finding here in Australia that with the pests these days becoming more resistant to certain chemical products, that other larger animal products are now becoming more spe-cific to being effective for particular parasites on Poultry
Lice and Feather Mite which damage feather for exhibition are also controlled by the use of the Swift Product
Preparation of Pekins for the Show bench
One of the most necessary tasks involved in the exhibiting of Pekin bantams ,is the preparation required just prior to the show day. This usually involves a complete bath for the pekin male or female with thorough cleansing of all the feathers that may have become soiled. Usually a good washing product is Softly liquid or Lux flakes. The bird is immersed in the warm soapy mix and the feathers saturated thoroughly. Additional attention is paid to the footings and the feather be-low the birds vent, which seem to attract the most soiling. Once the bird is thoroughly washed and cleaned then it should be rinsed thoroughly in warm clean water to remove suds and then rinsed again in another container of clean warm water to which liquid glycerol has been added per 1 teaspoon. The bird is then wrapped in a towel for 20 minutes, then lightly towel dried and placed in a warm airy wire cage in the sunlight to dry naturally. Comb, feet and nails require additional treatment to ensure they are clean, clipped and smooth. Birds should ideally be washed no more than 2-3 days prior to exhibition day.
Show day
Eventually show day will arrive. Pekins should be transported to the show in clean carrying containers with fresh shavings. A light wipe over with a sponge for face and legs and then ensure all feathers are in place before placing the bird in the allotted show pen. Settle the bird into its pen at the show and provide it with a small amount of grain to settle the bird down, in unfamiliar surroundings.
Pekin Bantam Conformation and Structure
Predominantly, Pekin breeders use the word "type" when referring to the shape in the Pekin Bantam and in their visual observation of a bird. There are several other factors however, that contribute to that first observation or assess-ment one may make about the type of the Pekin in front of them and they are explained below:
In simplistic terms, all animals and bird have actually been "constructed" ,as we would construct a house or shed ,the difference being that with the construction of a house or a shed, we have con-trol over the way it is put together due to the use of materials or in the actual construction method or from a laid out plan.
With the Pekin bantam ,mother nature controls the construction based on genetic Principles of Inheritance. What you see in the bantam in front of you has been inherited from a previous ances-tor, whether it be parent, grandparent or beyond that.
Additionally this a timely reminder that if you use a poorly constructed bird in the breeding pen when you start construction, then you can only ex-pect to produce poorly constructed birds from the parents for either the Show-bench, or for future breeding purposes.
In creating this chapter for a Judges’ and Exhibitor’s handbook, the aim is to illustrate the subtle differences between the major contributing factors that all need to combine to produce either suc-cessful exhibition birds, or the proven long term breeding bird that we are using to produce show winners. One of the most important is :
Conformation: Is the structure or outline of something as determined by the arrangement of its parts. In other words how it is constructed or "put to-gether." A correctly conformed Pekin relies heavily on its skeletal structure It is of very little use having a Pekin with a huge back end and no rounded front, created by poor bone structure. Or alternatively having a bird with a huge full front with a long back reflecting an "out of balance bird " This creates birds that if divided exactly in half from top to bottom with an imaginary line, would have either too much body in front or behind the line, creating imbalance. Poor structure of the skeleton forming any given bird is an inherited trait.
End.....
Article courtesy David Plant, Secretary of the Australian National Pekin Club Inc - © 2010 David Plant.