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The Barbu de Grubbe is a rumpless bantam. This means they do not have a tail. The Barbu de Grubbe was born around the year 1904 in a poultry house of a breeder of Barbu d'Anvers nearby the small village Kortenberg.
Picture: Barbu de Grubbe hen cuckoo. © W.Hoekstra / www.willemhoekstra.com
The absence of the tail is the result of changes in the genetic code.
Rumpless chickens are common in several breeds and at certains moments rumpless chickens are still born
unespected.
In two breeding facilities for Barbu d'Anvers rumpless chickens were born a few years ago.
In theory this is not possible because the genetic factor for rumpless is a dominant factor.
In the above mentioned recent cases it means that history is being repeated and changes occurred in the
genetic material one again.
Especially in Belgium the rumpless breeds were rather popular. This was caused because people thought
that chickens without a tail were less easier to catch by predators (like foxes).
In Belgium there exist a number of Belgian breeds with rumpless-varieties:
- Barbu d'Everberg
- Barbu de Grubbe
- Rumpless Ardenner (large)
- Rumpless Ardenner bantam.
Remarkeble is that the Barbu d'Anvers and the Barbu d'Uccle have switched their original breed name
with a name of the place of bearth.
Picture: Barbu de Grubbe cock black
The Barbu de Grubbe has to be a perfect Barbu d'Anvers, except for the tail.
Therefore it is a very small pertly bantam with a deep body carriage, wings carried sloping towards the ground, a short and very thick
neck and a well filled tripartite beard.
The cockr weights about 650 gram, the hen between 500 - 550 gram.
The body of this bantam has to be wide enough, like the Barbu d'Anvers. This shows in a wide rump
which has to be well rounded.
The certified colours for the Barbu de Grubbe are the same as with the Barbu d'Anvers.
These colours will not be listed here.
At this moment we only see quail and black Barbu de Grubbe.
Some breeders are working hard to breed this bantam in more colours. The making of new colour
in the Barbu de Grubbe is rather easy. We start with a goed Barbu d'Anvers.
The only thing we then have to do is to transmit the rumpless-factor.
This factor is dominant, which means we will soon see Barbu de Grubbe in different colours
on our shows.
The Barbu de Grubbe is a very devoted and intimate breed. Unfortunately the cocks cause the breeder some trouble because of his pertly and challenging character. This behaviour is worse than normal in the breeding season. These small bantams can be kept in a limited area without any problems. It is important to prevent the beard from becoming wet. This is to avoid beard picking. Therefore, adjusting the water tank in the pen is necessary.
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