Mechelse Styrian (CCP17)
The various phenotypes show characteristics of the sixteen different chicken breeds that were crossed into this generation of the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project / recognisable traits from Belgium, France, Great Britain, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico, Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, Cuba, Italy, Russia, China, Egypt and Senegal.
Descended from the old Germanic 'country chicken' of the Holy Roman Empire / mentioned in documents from the 14th century / bred in the Slovenian (area between the Mura and Sava rivers) and Austrian regions of Styria, from which the breed takes its name / around WW II, breeding of the Styrian came to an end, which brought it to the brink of extinction / only a small population remained, and for a long time the survival of the Styrian was uncertain.