SPANISH.
This splendid breed was originally imported from Spain, and is
characterised by its peculiar white face, which in the cock should
extend from the comb downwards, including the entire face, and meet
beneath in a white cravat, hidden by the wattles; and in the hen should
be equally striking. The plumage is perfectly black, with brilliant
metallic lustre, reflecting rich green and purple tints. The tail should
resemble a sickle in the cock, and be square in the hen. The comb should
be of a bright red, large, and high, upright in the cock, but pendent in
the hen; the legs blue, clean, and long, and the bearing proud and
gallant.
With care they will thrive in a very small space, and are perhaps better
adapted for town than any other variety. They are tolerably hardy when
grown, but suffer much from cold and wet. Their combs and wattles are
liable to be injured by severe cold, from which these fowls should be
carefully protected. If frost-bitten, the parts should be rubbed with
snow or cold water, and the birds must not be taken into a warm room
until recovered.
The Spanish are excellent layers, producing five or six eggs weekly from
February to August, and two or three weekly from November to February,
and also laying earlier than any other breed except the Brahma, the
pullets beginning to lay before they are six months old. Although the
hens are only of an average size, and but moderate eaters, their eggs
are larger than those of any other breed, averaging 3-1/2 ounces, and
some weighing 4-1/2 ounces, each. The shells are very thin and white,
and the largest eggs are laid in the spring.
The flesh is excellent, but the body is small compared to that of the
Dorking. They very seldom show any inclination to sit, and if they hatch
a brood are bad nurses. The chickens are very delicate, and are best
hatched at the end of April and during May. They do not feather till
almost three-parts grown, and require a steady mother that will keep
with them till they are safely feathered, and therefore the eggs should
be set under a Dorking hen, because that breed remains longer with the
chicks than any other. They almost always have white feathers in the
flight of the wings, but these become black.
"In purchasing Spanish fowls," says an excellent authority, "blue legs,
the entire absence of white or coloured feathers in the plumage, and a
large white face, with a very large, high comb, which should be erect in
the cock, though pendent in the hen, should be insisted on." Legginess
is a fault that breeders must be careful to avoid.
The cockerels show the white face earlier than the pullets, and a blue,
shrivelly appearance in the face of the chickens is a better sign of
future whiteness than a red fleshiness. Pullets are rarely fully
white-faced till above a year old. "The white face," says an excellent
authority, "should always extend well around the eye, and up to the
point of junction with the comb, though a line of short black feathers
is there frequently seen to intrude its undesired presence. It is
certainly objectionable, and the less of it the better; but any attempt
to remove or disguise this eyesore should be followed by immediate
disqualification." Some exhibitors of Spanish shave the down of the
edges of the white-face, in order to make it smooth and larger. This
disgraceful practice is not allowed at the Birmingham Show.
"One test of condition," says Mr. Baily, "more particularly of the
pullets, is the state of the comb, which will be red, soft, and
developed, just in proportion to the condition of the bird. While
moulting--and they are almost naked during this process--the comb
entirely shrivels up."
The White-faced WHITE SPANISH is thought to be merely a sport of the
White-faced Black Spanish. But, whatever their origin may have been,
they possess every indication of common blood with their Black
relatives, and their claims to appear by their side in the exhibition
room are as good as those of the White Cochins and the White Polish. The
plumage is uniformly white, but in all other respects they resemble the
Black breed. From the absence of contrast of colour shown in the face,
comb, and plumage of the Black Spanish, the White variety is far less
striking in appearance.
The ANDALUSIAN are so called from having been brought from the Spanish
province of Andalusia. This breed is of a bluish grey, sometimes
slightly laced with a darker shade, but having the neck hackles and tail
feathers of a glossy black, with red face and white ears. The chickens
are very hardy, and feather well, and earlier than the Spanish.
The MINORCA is so called from having been imported from that island, and
is a larger and more compactly-formed breed, resembling the Spanish in
its general characteristics; black, with metallic lustre, but with red
face, and having only the ear-lobes white; showing even a larger comb,
and with shorter legs. They are better as table fowls than the Spanish,
but the Andalusian are superior to either. The Minorca is the best layer
of all the Spanish breeds, its chickens are tolerably hardy, and it is
altogether far superior to the White-faced breed.
ANCONA is a provincial term applied to black and white mottled, or
"cuckoo," which on all other points resemble Minorcas, but are smaller.
The "Black Rot," to which Spanish fowls are subject, is a blackening of
the comb, swelling of the legs and feet, and general wasting of the
system; and can only be cured in the earlier stages by frequent purgings
with castor oil, combined with warm nourishing food, and strong ale, or
other stimulants, given freely. They are also subject to a peculiar kind
of swelled face, which first appears like a small knob under the skin,
and increases till it has covered one side of the face. It is considered
to be incurable.