Barneveld, a town in the Netherlands, is home to a large agricultural college specializing in poultry. As such, the area became the hub of the poultry industry in the early twentieth century. The area was known for supplying eggs to Europe, and the egg supply market was huge. At that time England wanted brown shelled eggs, so it became necessary to make a bird that laid dark brown eggs so the farmers could keep up with demand.
Barnevelders were known to lay dark chocolate brown eggs like the Marans, however time and effort was poured into perfecting the double laced plumage and as a result the egg colouring has diminished from a chocolate colour to the more common dark or even light brown seen today.
Now Barnevelder hens express unique and exquisite patterning on their feathers, a brown feather with double black lacing to produce an ‘arrowhead’ effect. The neck feathers are black with no patterning.
The Barnevelder can be described as a rectangular body shape, compact with a U- shaped back. Their wings are high on the body, so the bird does not fly well. Their neck is slightly arched, the tail carried at a perky 50 degrees with a moderate feather spread. The plumage is described as ‘tight.’ As for their comb is a single variety with 5 points; comb, wattles, and ear lobes are red. The eye is a red bay in colour, and the beak is horn coloured. Skin and legs are yellow with four toes to each foot. The hens are not known for being particularly broody. Livingseeds Hatchery currently supplies the Double Gold Laced Barnevelder.