Phoenix

A Silver Duckwing Phoenix cock bird
Photo courtesy of Kim Mower

Phoenix are descendants of the chickens that are seen in Japanese illustrations, which bear tails of 15 to 20 feet or longer. The only breed today that gets a tail of this length is the Onagadori. After the second year, the roosters no longer molt their sickle feathers. To maintain these tails, the birds are kept up on high roosts the way parrots are. Most of the Longtails do partially molt their sickle feathers each year, although individual feathers may be shed only every second or third year. This gene can be selected for, and a careful and longterm breeding project can produce birds with nonshedding tail feathers.

There are many breeds of Longtail fowl in Japan. The one our Phoenix most resembles is the Onagadori, except that the birds in the US rarely get any great length to their tails. There are also Longtail birds with pea combs, which in the US are called Yokohamas. However, this is not the name of any breed in Japan, but merely the port from which the early specimens were shipped out.

Breed clubs:

Oriental Game Breeders Association
Eve Bundy
PO Box 100
Creston, CA 93432
phone: 805-237-1010

The Asian Gamefowl Society
Julia Keeling, British Representative
Ballashee, Staarvey Road, German
Isle of Man, IM5 2AJ
British Isles
phone: (+44)-1624-801825
e-mail: shamolady@email.com
or
Speciaalclub Aziatische Vechthoenrassen
Willem van Ballekom (Secretaris SAV)
Hobokenlaan 19
5628 VA Eindhoven
Nederland
phone: 040-2417208
e-mail: ASIAGAME@WORLDONLINE.NL

Phoenix Links:

The Asian Gamefowl Society's Yokohama (Minohiki) page

Marc King's page on Japanese Ornamental Fowl.

Shamoman's Fowl

Longfeathers Ornamental and Exotics page on Phoenix/Onagadori

The Legend of the Shokoku Phoenix

Toni-Marie's Onagadori South Feather Farm

See the Phoenix at Sugar Creek Ornamentals

An Australian Phoenix forum

Bantam Golden Phoenix at Philen Farms

Japanese Silver Phoenix

The hen is on the left

Here's a very nice Silver Phoenix male

Silver Phoenix hens
Photo courtesy of Toni-Marie Astin

"Mr. & Mrs. Arizona," a young pair of Silver Phoenix
Photo courtesy of Martha Nowak

A Silver Phoenix rooster
Photo courtesy of Earl & Mandy McLauchlin

Two more Silver Phoenix roosters
Photos courtesy of Toni-Marie Astin

A Modern Silver Phoenix hen on the left and another Silver rooster on the right
Photos courtesy of Brian Reeder (left) and Jeff Hann (right)

An Ismer German Silver Phoenix male
Photo courtesy of Brian Reeder

Japanese Golden Phoenix

My Golden Phoenix cock, "Tail Junior"

And here's his dad "Tail," my very first Phoenix cock
Photo courtesy of Diana Reed-Slattery

A pair of Golden Phoenix
Photo courtesy of Frank Pytellek

Another Phoenix cock, "Margarita" (named after the drink)
Photo courtesy of Erica Salzmann

Three Golden Phoenix cocks
Photo courtesy of William Bender, Jr.

A two-month-old Golden Phoenix bantam cockerel
Photo © Jamie McCallum

Yukako's tail, er, tale

Yukako was a Golden Phoenix hen that I got as a pullet in 1984. She died in 1995. She could steal (that's jargon for hide) a nest with the best of 'em and raised plenty of broods of chicks, some planned by me and some from stolen nests. When she was young she was colored like a normal Golden Phoenix hen. They are similar to the Silver shown above but the hackle is more golden in color and the brown in the rest of the plumage is richer. Yukako, however, as she got to about 7 years old, began to turn white. Each molt she developed more white feathers as well as some that were laced in her normal brown color but white centrally. I've wondered, if she lived for 2 more years would she have become a white chicken?