Silkie Chicken (Taihe chicken)

Silkie Chicken (Taihe chicken). Rich in Chinese culture and tradition, the Silkie Chicken is a very special bird. Native to South China (Marco Polo is said to have seen them in his travels) and surrounding areas, the West came of know of these fine chickens in the late 1500's, when publishers began to print of history and medicinal values of the various foods and herbs of the Dynasties. Chinese folklore includes celestial attention to the Silkie when the white birds gained immortality by consuming Lu Dongbing's pills from his pond in 798 A.D. on the Wushan Mountain of Taihe, and were transformed into white phoenix. Tradition remains strong, and the use of the Silkie is very common today throughout the world.