Part 6 (1/2)
They are also subject to an affection called White Comb, which is a white mouldy eruption on the comb and wattles like powdered chalk; and if not properly treated in time, will spread over the whole body, causing the feathers to fall off. It is caused by want of cleanliness, over-stimulating or bad food, and most frequently by want of green food, which must be supplied, and the place rubbed with an ointment composed of two parts of cocoanut oil, and one of turmeric powder, to which some persons add one half part of sulphur; and six grains of jalap may be given to clear the bowels.
CHAPTER XI.
BRAHMA-POOTRAS.
It is a disputed point among great authorities whether Brahmas form a distinct variety, or whether they originated in a cross with the Cochin, and have become established by careful breeding. When they were first introduced, Mr. Baily considered them to be a distinct breed, and has since seen nothing to alter his opinion. Their nature and habits are quite dissimilar, for they wander from home and will get their own living where a Cochin would starve, have more spirit, deeper b.r.e.a.s.t.s, are hardier, lay larger eggs, are less p.r.o.ne to sit, and never produce a clean-legged chicken. Whatever their origin, by slow and sure degrees, without any mania, they have become more and more popular, standing upon their own merits, and are now one of the most favourite varieties.
”The worst accusation,” says Miss Watts, ”their enemies can advance against them is, that no one knows their origin; but this is applicable to them only as it is when applied to Dorkings, Spanish, Polands, and all the other kinds which have been brought to perfection by careful breeding, working on good originals. All we have in England are descended from fowls imported from the United States, and the best account of them is, that a sailor (rather vague, certainly) appeared in an American town (Boston or New York, I forget which) with a new kind of fowl for sale, and that a pair bought from him were the parents of all the Brahmas. Uncertain as this appears, the accounts of those who pretend to trace their origin as cross-bred fowls is, at least, equally so, and I believe we may just act towards the Brahmas as we do with regard to Dorkings and other good fowls, and be satisfied to possess a first-rate, useful kind, although we may be unable to trace its genealogical tree back to the root. Whatever may be their origin, I find them distinct in their characteristics. I have found them true to their points, generation after generation, in all the years that I have kept them. The pea-comb is very peculiar, and I have never had one chicken untrue in this among all that I have bred. Their habits are very unlike the Cochins. Although docile, they are much less inert; they lay a larger number of eggs, and sit less frequently. Many of my hens only wish to sit once a year; a few oftener than that, perhaps twice or even three times in rare instances, but never at the end of each small batch of eggs, as I find (my almost equal favourites) the Cochins do. The division of Light and Dark Brahmas is a fancy of the judges, which any one who keeps them can humour with a little care in breeding. My idea of their colour is, that it should be black and grey (iron grey, with more or less of a blue tinge, and devoid of any brown) on a clear white ground, and I do not care whether the white or the marking predominates.
I believe breeders could bear me out, if they would, when I say many fowls which pa.s.s muster as Brahmas are the result of a cross, employed to increase size and procure the heavy colour which some of the judges affect.”
For strength of const.i.tution, both as chickens and fowls, they surpa.s.s all other breeds. Brahmas like an extensive range, but bear confinement as well as any fowls, and keep cleaner in dirty or smoky places than any that have white feathers. They are capital foragers where they have their liberty, are smaller eaters and less expensive to keep than Cochins, and most prolific in eggs. They lay regularly on an average five fine large eggs a week all the year round, even when snow is on the ground, except when moulting or tending their brood. Mr. Boyle, of Bray, Ireland, the most eminent breeder of Dark Brahmas in Great Britain, says he has ”repeatedly known pullets begin to lay in autumn, and _never stop_--let it be hail, rain, snow, or storm--for a single day till next spring.” They usually lay from thirty to forty eggs before they seek to sit. The hens do not sit so often as Cochins, and a week's change of place will generally banish the desire. They put on flesh well, with plenty of breast-meat, and are more juicy and better shaped for the table than most Cochins; though, after they are six months old, the flesh is much inferior to that of the Dorking. A cross with a Dorking or Creve-Coeur c.o.c.k produces the finest possible table fowl, carrying almost incredible quant.i.ties of meat of excellent quality.
The chickens are hardy and easy to rear. They vary in colour when first hatched, being all shades of brown, yellow, and grey, and are often streaked on the back and spotted about the head; but this variety gives place, as the feathers come, to the mixture of black, white, and grey, which forms the distinguis.h.i.+ng colour of the Brahma. Mr. Baily has ”hatched them in snow, and reared them all out of doors without any other shelter than a piece of mat or carpet thrown over the coop at night.” They reach their full size at an early age, and the pullets are in their prime at eight months. Miss Watts noticed that Brahmas ”are more clever in the treatment of themselves when they are ill than other fowls; when they get out of order, they will generally fast until eating is no longer injurious,” which peculiarity is corroborated by the experienced ”Henwife.” The feathers of the Brahma-Pootra are said to be nearly equal to goose feathers.
The head should have a slight fulness over the eye, giving breadth to the top; a full, pearl eye is much admired, but far from common; comb either a small single, or pea-comb--the single resembling that of the Cochin; the neck short; the breast wide and full; the legs short, yellow, and well-feathered, but not so fully as in the finest Cochins; and the tail short but full, and in the c.o.c.k opening into a fan. They should be wide and deep made, large and weighty, and have a free, n.o.ble carriage, equally distinct from the waddle of the Cochin, and the erect bearing of the Malay. Unlike the Cochins, they keep constantly to their colour, which is a mixture of black, white, and grey; the lightest being almost white, and the darkest consisting of grey markings on a white ground. The colour is entirely a matter of taste, but the bottom colour should always be grey.
”After breeding Brahmas for many years,” says Miss Watts, ”through many generations and crosses (always, however, keeping to families imported direct from America), we are quite confirmed in the opinion that the pea-comb is _the_ comb for the Brahma; and this seems now a settled question, for single-combed birds never take prizes when pa.s.sable pea-combed birds are present. The leading characteristic of the peculiar comb, named by the Americans the pea-comb, is its triple character. It may be developed and separated almost like three combs, or nearly united into one; but its triple form is always evident. What we think most beautiful is, where the centre division is a little fluted, slightly serrated, and flanked by two little side combs. The degree of the division into three varies, and the peculiarities of the comb may be less perceptible in December than when the hens are laying; but the triple character of the pea-comb is always evident. It shows itself in the chick at a few days old, in three tiny paralleled lines.” It is thick at the base, and like three combs joined into one, the centre comb being higher than the other, but the comb altogether must be low, rounded at the top, and the indentations must not be deep. Whether single or triple, all the combs in a pen should be uniform.
The dark and light varieties should not be crossed, as, according to Mr.
Teebay, who was formerly the most extensive and successful breeder of Brahmas in England, the result is never satisfactory.
CHAPTER XII.
MALAYS.
This was the first of the gigantic Asiatic breeds imported into this country, and in height and size exceeds any fowl yet known. The origin of the Malay breed is supposed to be the _Gallus giganteus_ of Temminck.
”This large and very remarkable species,” says Mr. W. C. L. Martin, ”is a native of Java and Sumatra. The comb is thick and low, and dest.i.tute of serrations, appearing as if it had been partially cut off; the wattles are small, and the throat is bare. The neck is covered with elongated feathers, or hackles, of a pale golden-reddish colour, which advance upon the back, and hackles of the same colour cover the rump, and drop on each side of the base of the tail. The middle of the back and the shoulders of the wings are of a dark chestnut, the feathers being of a loose texture. The greater wing-coverts are of a glossy green, and form a bar of that colour across the wing. The primary and secondary quill feathers are yellowish, with a tinge of rufous. The tail feathers are of a glossy green. The under surface uniformly is of a glossy blackish green, but the base of each feather is a chestnut, and this colour appears on the least derangement of the plumage. The limbs are remarkably stout, and the robust tarsi are of a yellow colour. The voice is a sort of crow--hoa.r.s.e and short, and very different from the clear notes of defiance uttered by our farmyard chanticleer. This species has the habit, when fatigued, of resting on the tarsi or legs, as we have seen the emu do under similar circ.u.mstances.”
In the ”Proceedings of the Zoological Society” for 1832, we find the following notice respecting this breed, by Colonel Sykes, who observed it domesticated in the Deccan: ”Known by the name of the Kulm c.o.c.k by Europeans in India. Met with only as a domestic bird; and Colonel Sykes has reason to believe that it is not a native of India, but has been introduced by the Mussulmans from Sumatra or Java. The iris of the real game bird should be whitish or straw yellow. Colonel Sykes landed two c.o.c.ks and a hen in England in June, 1831. They bore the winter well; the hen laid freely, and has reared two broods of chickens. The c.o.c.k has not the shrill clear pipe of the domestic bird, and his scale of note appears more limited. A c.o.c.k in the possession of Colonel Sykes stood twenty-six inches high to the crown of the head; but they attain a greater height. Length from the tip of the bill to the insertion of the tail, twenty-three inches. Hen one-third smaller than the male. Shaw very justly describes the habit of the c.o.c.k, of resting, when tired, on the first joint of the leg.”
It is a long, large, heavy bird, standing remarkably upright, having an almost uninterrupted slope from the head to the insertion of the tail; with very long, though strong, yellow legs, quite free from feathers; long, stout, firm thighs, and stands very erect; the c.o.c.k, when full grown, being at least two feet six inches, and sometimes over three feet in height, and weighing from eight to eleven pounds. The head has great fulness over the eye, and is flattened above, resembling that of the snake. The small, thick, hard comb, scarcely rising from the head, and barely as long, like half a strawberry, resembles that of a Game fowl dubbed. The wattles are very small; the neck closely feathered, and like a rope, with a s.p.a.ce for an inch below the beak bare of feathers. It has a hard, cruel expression of face; a brilliant bold eye, pearled around the edge of the lids; skinny red face; very strong curved yellow beak; and small, drooping tail, with very beautiful, though short, sickle feathers. The hen resembles the c.o.c.k upon all these points, but is smaller.
Their colours now comprise different shades of red and deep chestnut, in combination with rich browns, and there are also black and white varieties, each of which should be uniform. The feathers should be hard and close, which causes it to be heavier than it appears.
Malays are inferior to most other breeds as layers, but the pullets commence laying early, and are often good winter layers. Their eggs, which weigh about 2-1/2 ounces each, are of a deep buff or pale chocolate colour, surpa.s.s all others in flavour, and are so rich that two of them are considered to be equal to three of ordinary fowls. They are nearly always fertile.
Their chief excellence is as table fowls, carrying, as they do, a great quant.i.ty of meat, which, when under a year old, is of very good quality and flavour. Crossed with the Spanish and Dorking, they produce excellent table fowls; the latter cross being also good layers.
Malays are good sitters and mothers, if they have roomy nests. Their chickens should not be hatched after June, as they feather slowly, and are delicate; but the adult birds are hardy enough, and seem especially adapted to crowded localities, such as courts and alleys. ”Malays,” says Mr. Baily, ”will live anywhere; they will inhabit a back yard of small dimensions; they will scratch in the dust-hole, and roost under the water-b.u.t.t; and yet not only lay well, but show in good condition when requisite.” Like the Game fowl, it is terribly pugnacious, and in its native country is kept and trained for fighting. This propensity, which is still greater in confinement, is its greatest disadvantage. When closely confined they are apt to eat each other's feathers, the cure for which is turning them into a gra.s.s run, and giving them a good supply of lettuce leaves, with an occasional purgative of six grains of jalap. The Chittagong is said to be a variety of the Malay.
CHAPTER XIII.
GAME.