Dark Brown
In the Netherlands, the dark brown is one of the more recently created colour varieties both in standard and bantam fowls. In the standard size it was recognized in 1983, and in the bantam in 1996. This variety comes originally from Germany, where the brown were bred in a darker shade than in the Netherlands. At the Amsterdam Euroshow in 1979 a number of Dutch breeders became enthusiastic about this variety and introduced it to the Netherlands.
The pattern is the same as the brown’s, but the background colour is clearly darker. In this variety it is essential to retain and fix the dark background colour. Specimens of lower quality, especially the cocks, often display a mixture of these colours in the neck.  The hens’ background colour is often too light around the neck, back and wing coverts.
There are a few breeders of this variety in the Netherlands.