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Poultry
Marsh Daisy
Watchlist; Category 2, Endangered.
The very name of this breed is intriguing and the breed has a fascinating history. It was created by two breeders during a period of about forty years, from around 1880. The first was John Wright from Marshside in Lancashire who produced his own strain of a cross between the Black Hamburgh and the White Leghorn. He had added some Malay and Old English Game, but had retained the rose comb, white ear lobes and plumage. Charles Moore took over in 1913 and added Pit Game and Sicilian Buttercup. This strange mixture produced the Marsh Daisy that we know today. It is said that Moore gave it the name in memory of the marshy piece of ground where he first saw the original white hens at John Wright’s home.
The breed was admitted to the breed standards in the 1920s and had by then become available in several colour varieties, all of which had the characteristic rose comb, white earlobes and distinctive green legs.
The Marsh Daisy was presumed extinct. However, in 1971, the one-time President of the Rare Poultry Society, Mr Ralph White discovered a flock in Somerset, where the breed had a traditional stronghold. It soon became apparent that the colour varieties had been interbred, probably as a last ditch attempt to avoid excessive inbreeding.
Present day colours are brown, wheaten and buff. Black and white varieties were also standardised but tend not to be seen and may be extinct.
The breed today retains its hardiness, longevity and great capacity for foraging. They are good layers of tinted eggs.