CHAPTER VIII 

 BUFF PLYMOUTH ROCKS 



Origin of Buff Plymouth Rocks Important early strains of the 



variety Influence of H. S. Burdick Buff Rocks in the west Correct 



shade of buff How to breed buff color 



Buff Plymouth Rocks came upon the stage when R. G. Buffington 

 and Dr. N. B. Aldrich exhibited specimens of this variety at the 

 Providence, Rhode Island, poultry show, 1890. At this time, buff as 

 a plumage color in Standard breeds was carried only by the majestic 

 Buff Cochin, and the Buff Cochin was one of the most popular of all 

 the breeds, being second only to the Light Brahma at the New York 

 show of 1891, when 147 Buff Cochins and 220 Light Brahmas were 

 entered. The new aspirant for first place, the Barred Plymouth Rock, 

 was third in line at that Madison Square Garden show of 1891, the 

 entry of Barred Rocks being two birds less than the total cooped in 

 the Buff Cochin aisle. 



At the New York show of 1892, thirteen Buff Plymouth Rocks 

 made their appearance, and the variety was recognized as a Standard 

 variety in that year. Here were buff fowls free from the profuse 

 feathering and sluggish disposition of the Cochin; here were Plymouth 

 Rocks that were buff. The possibility of producing rich golden buff 

 on fowls with the economic properties of the American breeds, 

 enthused the poultry breeding fraternity. "When the facts as to the 

 new buff breeds shone upon us, all interested in fancy fo\vls, to a 

 greater or less extent, went, as might be said, color mad," wrote T. F. 

 McGrew in telling of the advent of Buff Rocks and Buff Wyandottes. 



Ten years later, at the New York show of 1901, 119 Buff Plymouth 

 Rocks were shown as against forty-four Buff Cochins, and in 1906. 

 there were 130 Buff Rocks entered at the Garden and thirty-three Buff 

 Cochins. The new variety had made good, was established, and by its 

 fitness was surviving and surplanting its forbear, the Cochin. 



Origin of Buff Plymouth Rocks. The first Buff Rocks as exhibited 

 by Buffington and Aldrich were bred up from red fowls secured in 

 the vicinity of Westport, Massachusetts. From Westport west 

 through Tiverton and Little Compton to the Sakonett river in Rhode 

 Island was an isolated district where the red color was uppermost in 

 the farm flocks and it was here that the foundation stock of the 

 Rhode Island Red breed was secured by the same Dr. N. B. Aldrich 

 in later years. 



Buffington and Aldrich made numerous excursions into this dis- 

 trict. Buffington was working on his new Buff Wyandottes. and in 



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