Animals in Viking England help?

[FifteensAway]

I've volunteered to paint up some domestic animals for a club sponsored game for next year and am looking for images of animals from the Viking era - cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, a dog and a cat, and some crows (might do the last as pigeons and magpies?).  Easy enough to paint up with contemporary images but some of our modern breeds did not exist back then.  Any one able to point me to some appropriate images in color?  If so, my many thanks.

[Atheling]

Here's some pics I gathered from the net, not sure if they are all 'Dark Ages' (hate that phrase) but they should do as a start:

[Atheling]

Although not strictly about the look of the animals, this might be usefull too:

[fastolfrus]

Look at the RBST (Rare Breeds Survival Trust) as a starting point

https://www.rbst.org.uk/

For sheep probably look for Soay, Manx or Jacob, pigs probably Tamworth, cattle  Chillingham. Not sure about goats.
Might be worth looking at geese too.

[matakishi]

Ginger cats were brought to Britain by the Romans (and hence black cats also) and feature in Norse mythology too. Can't help you with the less interesting animals, sorry.

[FifteensAway]

fastolfrus,

Thanks!  That link to the Rare Breeds Trust is exactly what I was looking for.  Will be a tremendous help in getting the look right.  Luckily I've been too busy to get a start painting the beasts yet.  Site bookmarked.
Very cool.

[3 fingers]

I'm not 100 percent sure,so don't shoot me down in flames but I think chickens would be the game/fighting cock kind.
 Cattle the longhorn/shorthorn type breeds
Sheep soay type
Goats similar to the feral types of Scotland/Ireland.
Edit to add pigs Tamworth /wild boar types?

[Mitch K]

I'm not 100 percent sure,so don't shoot me down in flames but I think chickens would be the game/fighting cock kind.
 Cattle the longhorn/shorthorn type breeds
Sheep soay type
Goats similar to the feral types of Scotland/Ireland.
Edit to add pigs Tamworth /wild boar types?

Sounds about right. Cattle at that time are thought to have been like the Chillingham/Park cattle
This was my take:
http://mitchwargaming.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/dark-ages-cattle.html

[fastolfrus]

Thanks!  That link to the Rare Breeds Trust is exactly what I was looking for. 

No worries.
On the plus side, you can sometimes find RBST members local to you if you want to get a really close look at livestock.
RBST often have a stand at the big agricultural shows.

As for chickens. There are some very attractive birds around, The Works usually has special calendars at this time of year. Otherwise, look in WHSmiths, they often have 2 or 3 chicken-fancier magazines (our local WHS has as many chicken mags as wargames titles)

[3 fingers]

The dorkings were supposed to be the eldest ,brought in by the Romans Apperently
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorking_(chicken)

[Mitch K]

The dorkings were supposed to be the eldest ,brought in by the Romans Apperently
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorking_(chicken)

There were chickens in Britain before the Romans, so they were probably Old English-like. The anecdotal evidence suggests that you can be fairly free and easy with your Viking era chickens!

[Paul]

There were chickens in Britain before the Romans, so they were probably Old English-like.

Correct. OEG´s (Old English Game fowl) were noted by, Julius Caesar  In 54BC, who was impressed that the ancient Britons (brittany?) bred birds for fighting, rather than meat but  chickens were definately in Britian before the romans, probably  some 500 yrs before;
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/applied-sciences/news-and-events/news/2012/may/ne002-chicken-coop-research.html

[3 fingers]

I thought I had read similar ,that's why I said game fowl.

[Mitch K]

The "Old English Game" chicken is a pretty "primitive" chicken breed, not far removed in habits, appearence and size from Red Jungle Fowl that were the original domesticated source. Ironically, there's LESS variartion in appearance in the modern strain (because of breed standards) than in the original wild birds!

[3 fingers]

Gripping beast ,do sheep and pigs suitable ,I just see them,when I was looking for something else.