Crèvecœur (chicken)
Crèvecœur cock (foreground)
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| Conservation status | FAO (2007): endangered |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | France |
| Use | dual-purpose, meat and eggs; fancy |
| Traits | |
| Weight |
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| Egg color | white |
| Comb type | V-shaped |
| Classification | |
| APA | continental |
| ABA | all other comb clean legged |
| PCGB | rare soft feather: heavy |
| Notes | |
| crested breed | |
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The Crèvecœur is an endangered historic crested chicken breed from the Pays d'Auge, in the Calvados département of Normandy, in north-western France. It is named after the commune of Crèvecœur-en-Auge. It is related to the La Flèche and to other Norman breeds such as the Caumont and Caux and the extinct Pavilly; the Merlerault was formerly considered a sub-type of the Crèvecœur.
The Crèvecœur is among the oldest French breeds of chicken; its origins are unknown. It takes its name from the commune of Crèvecœur-en-Auge, near Lisieux in the historic region of the Pays d'Auge, in the Calvados département of Normandy. Crèvecoeur chickens won prizes at the Exposition Universelle of 1855 in Paris. The breed was described in detail by Louis Bréchemin in 1894, but the breed standard was not accepted by the Société d’Aviculture de Basse-Normandie until 1909.
The population of the breed suffered during both the First and Second World Wars; after the latter, it was thought to have virtually disappeared. Recovery was begun in 1976 by Jean-Claude Périquet. In 1995 numbers were reported to be between 100 and 1000 individuals; in 2007 the breed was classified by the FAO as "endangered".
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