Gimmizah

The Gimmizah is a breed of chicken which had been developed in El-Gimmizah Poultry Research Farm, Ministry of Agriculture, Gharbia. The White Plymouth Rock and Dokki 4 were utilized for developing this breed through selection and breeding system. This breed, which is auto-sexed, resembles the Barred Plymouth Rock in body shape and plumage color. The down color of Gimmizah chicks is black over dorsal surface and on the sides, except that there is a light grayish white patch on the head, and the ventral surface is creamy white.

Adult birds of Gimmizah have a characterized plumage-color, which is a grayish white, each feather is crossed by dark bars. While the dark and the light bars of the males are approximately of equal width, in the female, light bars are approximately one-half width of the dark bars. The beak, shanks and skin are yellowish white. This breed has a single comb and red ear lobes. Comprehensive studies showed that this breed was superior to many other local breeds in productive and reproductive traits.

Reference:

Taha.H.Mahmoud et al. Agric.Res.Rev.Cairo 1989 vol  :51. (submitted by Prof. Dr. Taha Hussein Mahmoud, Agriculture Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture, Cairo, Egypt)

Added June 26, 1997