The Yokohama chicken, commonly confused with the Phoenix chicken, is quite easily one of the most beautiful chicken breeds in the world. While it is not the most productive bird ever, for those that are looking for a stunning looking chicken, then look no further than the Yokohama chicken breed.
Let’s take a little look at what it brings to the table, shall we?
Yokohama Chicken Facts at a Glance
| Eggs | 80 per year |
| Egg Shell Color | White |
| Recognized Variety | Red Shoulder and White |
| Use | Show |
| Comb Type | Walnut comb |
| Weight | Male Standard: 4.5 lb. (2 kg) Male Bantam: 26 oz. (740 g) Female Standard: 3.5 lb. (1.6 kg) Female Bantam: 22 oz. (625 g) |
| Country of origin | Japan (but developed in Germany) |
| Foraging | Good |
| Admitted to APA | 1981 |
The Origins of the Yokohama Chicken
While the name of this chicken breed suggests that it may come from Japan, it does not. It was developed in UK and Germany.
Although, the original birds that went on to become the Yokohama chicken did originate from Japan, specifically the port of Yokohama. Those chickens were the Shokoku and the Shamo chicken.
Surprisingly, despite this bird being regarded as a British breed, the bulk of the development took place in Germany. The same with the bantam variant of the breed.
Although, it is now very rare to find the Yokohama chicken in Germany. In fact, there are many that will say it is close to extinction there.
The reason why the Yokohama is classed as a British bird is down to the fact that the very first breeder’s clubs were in the United Kingdom.
This is where the breed began to grow rapidly.
After all, once there is a breeder’s club for any animal, the number of people looking to expand the population of the breed shoots up.
This is because you have so many different people working together on one common project!
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The Look of the Yokohama Chicken
In comparison to most other chicken breeds, the Yokohama chicken is quite small. They weigh around 4.4 lb (2kg), maximum, for the roosters.
The breed is best known for being one of the four long tail chickens recognized by APA in US. It is these long tail feathers that give the impression that the Yokohama chicken is far larger than it actually is.
There will be no feathering on the legs. They will either have a pea comb or a walnut comb dependent on how they have been bred. The Yokohama chicken is available in several different colors, this includes:
- Red-saddled. The bird will be white with red shoulders.
- White
- Golden
- Silver
- Black buff
- Blue-Red
- Black-Red
- Spangled
The first two color variants on that list are the German version of the bird. The rest of the colors didn’t come into existence until the breed was exported to the United Kingdom and underwent further development.
As we said before, there is also a German bantam chicken version of this breed. Although, the information that we share on this bird throughout the page will be purely focused on the larger variety.
While there may be some overlap, we cannot promise that everything we say will be attributable to the bantam breed as it has been bred in a slightly different way.
The bantam weighs a little bit under half of the weight of the full-sized chicken.
The Yokohama Chicken as a Show Bird
Nowadays, the only reason why people are raising the Yokohama chicken is that it is a fantastic show chicken.
It looks good, and the huge variety of different colors that it is available in ensures that breeders have a lot of leeway when it comes to the development of the bird.
If you see a chicken show in the United Kingdom, then it is virtually guaranteed that you will see some sort of Yokohama Show happening at the same time.
Of course, as with most breeds designed for show, if you are only just starting to tinker with the idea of raising the breed for show purposes, then you probably won’t be successful.
It will likely take a few generations of chicken breeding before you are able to create a bird that is show worthy.
The only way around this is to buy a chicken that has already won shows, or at least the offspring of said chicken.
However, this is going to be expensive. That being said, if you end up raising successful show birds, then you will end up making that money back eventually.
There is nothing that really says that you need to be taking this bird to shows anyway. We know of plenty of people that loved the look of the Yokohama chicken so much that they just have them as pets. They look brilliant wandering around the yard.
Raising Yokohama Chickens for Meat
While this bird can be eaten, we can’t imagine that there are that many people doing it.
This is because it is an expensive chicken breed.
It isn’t exactly the fastest growing breed in the world either. It is likely that the only people eating Yokohama chickens regularly will be those people that have raised birds for breeding but they have ended up with birds that are not show-worthy.
Yokohama Chicken Eggs
The Yokohama hen can lay around 80 white shell eggs per year, although most people will find that their chicken lays a lot less than this.
The Yokohama hens are very poor layers of eggs, so, of course, this probably won’t be a bird that you want to get if you are looking for eggs.
It is worth noting that the eggs that they do lay are going to be quite small.
The only real highlight is the slightly tinted color which gives a better look than most other chicken eggs. We can’t say that this is much of a selling point, though.
Yokohama Chicken Care
Your main concern with the Yokohama chicken is ensuring that it is protected from the elements.
If you take this bird to a show, then the bulk of judgment is going to be focused on their feathers.
Chickens exposed to the elements tend to have faded coloring on their feathers, and they may even end up with tattered feathers. Obviously, this isn’t going to be a problem if you do not plan on taking the chicken to shows.
It is worth noting that the Yokohama hens may broad and are very protective mothers.
There are no known health issues tied to this chicken breed, which is awesome! It means that the Yokohama chicken breed is going to be so much easier to raise.
