backyared Chickens

The misnomer that the Phoenix is a Japanese breed has been around a very long time. It’s been spread by misinformed poultry organizations and hatcheries either as a misunderstanding or a clever selling point to make them sound more exotic.

The Phoenix is actually a German breed.

Where the misunderstanding comes in is that the Phoenix does contain a small amount of Japanese blood that was brought from Japan to Germany right after WWII by returning military troups.

Those birds were then crossed with Europe’s own breeds; the Leghorn and some game breeds. When it comes right down to it, the Phoenix contains a very small amount of Japanese blood and was developed and standardized in Europe from mostly European blood.

The Japanese breed that the Phoenix is so often confused with is the Onagadori. Unlike the Phoenix, the Onagadori (developed in Tosa, now the Kochi Prefecture) has green and yellow legs and only molts its tail and saddle feathers once every three to four years, or even longer.

The Phoenix was bred strictly to be a blue/slate-legged, molting breed that molts at least every one to two years and never, ever had tail lengths comparable to the Onagadori. Nor was it intended to have.