The Asiatics

   

The Asiatics are the grand old breeds, and a great many of the modern breeds owe their heritage to these birds, which caused a near panic of poultry breeding in Europe, especially England, and America in the 1840's through much of the late eighteen hundreds. There had never been such large breeds of chicken seen in Europe when these breeds were imported. The first to arrive was the Malay in the 1830's. Then came the "Cochin Chinas" and the "Brahmaputra" in the 1840's, and a bit later, the Langshan in the 1870's.

These birds, especially the Cochin, were loved and heavily promoted by Queen Victoria I of England. It is in large part due to her interest and participation with these birds that the Cochin craze emerged and thus, both exhibition poultry and indirectly, the modern poultry industry owe their origins and ground work to these breeds and this influential monarch. The Asiatics are the basis of the later breeds of large dual-purpose fowl that have become so well known and have had such a major influence in the development of the modern brown egg layers and the meat industry birds.

In the early days of these breeds in the West, they were all very different than they now are. The early Cochin and Brahma would be unrecognizable as the breeds of today. The original Cochin were tall birds in black tailed buff with long legs and very little leg feathering. The Brahma was similar, and both breeds were much more similar to each other than they are today. Both were much more like the langshan, which is more like it's original form than either of the former. They all likely owe some of their genetic descent to malayoid-like birds. Early Malay were seen in a wide variation of forms as well.

The cochin, Brahma and langshan were all most likely regional variations of the same land race of fowl. They did occupy different regions; the Brahma from the border of India and China, the Cochin from the region of Cochin, China and the Langshan from central China, in the Langshan Mountain region. Each conformed to the tastes and regional fowl of each area, on which the giant malayoid-derived form of poultry would have been stamped over. As far back as the reign of the first emperor, Chen, in 300 BC, poultry was treated as currency in China, and the worlds first state run poultry industry was developed. The weight of the bird was of the utmost importance and was the criterion by which the birds were judged, as the Chinese poultry industry of that time was used to feed the vast armies of Chen. It is possible that the original blending of local landraces with giant and improved fowl (perhaps malayoid in type), could have begun as early as the Chen dynasty in 300 BC, though records seem to indicate that this was already a centuries old pursuit when Chen unified the warring states to make China. It is likely that these breeds do have very ancient origins. However, it is a bit extreme to imply that these breeds would have been unchanged for such a long time, as clearly, since their arrival in the West in the 1840's, their type has changed tremendously.

When they arrived in the West, they were all tall, leggy birds of immense proportions and little foot feathering. Some even had no foot feathering. So why were they changed? After all, it is fully understandable that the burgeoning exhibition crowd would have bred up the colors and forms into a general homozygous type, but why create the extreme feathering seen in the cochin, and at times, in the late 1800's, in the Brahma too? To answer that question, we should look to the women's fashions of the mid to late eighteen hundreds. The full cushion of the Cochin was often in the past compared to the bustle of women's dresses of the later Victorian period. The type the Cochin eventually took was to emulate the fashion of the day and most especially of the queen herself. As a major sponsor in the early development of these birds, it is understandable that the breeders would seek to create the full, over-feathered type that would have appealed to then current fashions, and her tastes. The Brahma was later returned to a less feathered form, somewhat similar to the original forms. The langshan has remained closer to it's original form, though they are fuller of tail now, and the angle is higher than in the original birds.

---

printer-friendly        © Brian Reeder

---

Navigation Links:

Asiatics *** History *** Cushions & Bustles
Brahma *** Cochin *** Langshan



Top
 

last update: 14. Oct 2009