TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has developed a new variety of the Silkie breed, also known as the Silky or Chinese silk chicken, that can lay eggs with a bluish hue that are billed as extremely nutritious.
A result of decade-long research by the Taiwan Livestock Research Institute (TLRI), an affiliate of the agriculture ministry, the new variety is called “Tian Qing Wu Gu Ji” (天晴烏骨雞), literally sunny black-boned chicken. The fowl bears all the 10 hallmarks of what traditionally characterize a premium Silkie, including blue earlobes, black skin, black bones, and silky and fluffy plumage, wrote Agriharvest.
Although its blue eggs weigh about 43.2 grams, lighter than the commonly seen white or brown-shelled eggs that are approximately 60 grams, they boast plenty of nutrients at levels higher than ordinary ones. For example, compared with brown eggs, the blue eggs contain significantly higher levels of calcium, zinc, iron, lecithin, DHA, Omega-3 fatty acids, threonine, lysine, folate, and vitamins A, B1, B5, and E, and the amount of folate is 253% of that of ordinary eggs.
The chicken is free of pathogens of subgroup J avian leukosis virus (ALV-J) and Pullorum disease (PD). It is being registered, and businesses are invited to seek a technology transfer to breed the Silkie, said Tsai Ming-yang (蔡銘洋), a TLRI researcher.
A new variety of the Silkie chicken breed. (Taiwan Livestock Research Institute, CNA photo)
