La Flèche Chickens
Legend has it that the La Flèche ("the arrow" in French) chicken got its name from the arrow-like shape of its v-shaped comb, but the name actually comes from its origin. La Flèche is a town in the Valley of La Sarthe in France. The breed originated from crossing Black Spanish, Crevecoeur and DuMans blood lines. A large population of La Flèche chickens made their way to America in the 1850s and were recognized by the American Poultry Association as a standard breed in 1874. They did not find popularity and were soon abandoned for hardier newly arriving breeds. Today the breed is on the Critically Endangered List with the Livestock Conservancy with very few breeders nationwide.
The La Flèche are a medium size, dual purpose breed, laying nice sized white shelled eggs of good quality. Unique looking with their ‘V’ shaped comb, glossy black plummage and white earlobes, they have a large breast for their size. They are good foragers with an active but not flighty temperament and are not aggressive with people. Growth is fairly slow but they fatten well producing excellent quality meat.
We are excited to be conserving this critically endangered and RARE French breed. After starting with only a few of these chickens in 2016, we are always working toward improving our flock to meet the American Standard of Perfection criteria. If you are looking for a conservation project that can still produce, or an unusual and beautiful backyard flock the La Flèche is a worthwhile breed!
The La Flèche are a medium size, dual purpose breed, laying nice sized white shelled eggs of good quality. Unique looking with their ‘V’ shaped comb, glossy black plummage and white earlobes, they have a large breast for their size. They are good foragers with an active but not flighty temperament and are not aggressive with people. Growth is fairly slow but they fatten well producing excellent quality meat.
We are excited to be conserving this critically endangered and RARE French breed. After starting with only a few of these chickens in 2016, we are always working toward improving our flock to meet the American Standard of Perfection criteria. If you are looking for a conservation project that can still produce, or an unusual and beautiful backyard flock the La Flèche is a worthwhile breed!
