CHAPTER XVI 

 BUFF WYANDOTTES 



Wonderful improvement made in this variety since the early days 

 The originators Breeding buff color The Standard color Points to 



consider today 



No variety of the Wyandotte breed has shown more progressive 

 development than the Buff. The early birds carried black wings and 

 tails; frequently they were striped with black in the hackle; the under 

 color was usually defective, and the surface color of the males was 

 reddish buff, while that of the females was laid on in patches of buff 

 of different hues. It became necessary for a time for breeders to lose 

 sight of shape and specialize in their effort to produce buff color. 



The early Buff Wyandottes were a composite variety. They had been 

 made by various crosses by different breeders. The first work was started 

 about 1885 when the boom of the original Wyandotte was at its height. 

 The new variety was admitted to the Standard in 1893, and by 1900 had 

 attracted to its ranks some of the greatest breeders in America. About 

 this time shape began to be given more thoughtful attention, good shaped 

 birds began to appear, and Buff Wyandotte breeders were of accord in 

 exclaiming that without Wyandotte shape, the birds were without the 

 Wyandotte class. 



The originators. W. R. Wooden, Battle Creek, Michigan, who 

 took up the breeding of Buff Wyandottes in the nineties, made a thorough 

 examination of the evidence bearing on the origin of the variety, and in 

 the first year-book of the American Buff Wyandotte Club, 1901, presented 

 the following history : 



The writer undertook the preparation of this article with a degree of confidence 

 that must have been born of the mother of presumption. What seemed at its com- 

 mencement a light and easy task has become a burden beyond the time, patience 

 and persistence of the ordinary man of business. Owing to the fact that breed- 

 ers are prone to make no record of new and experimental matings, much that would 

 throw light upon this subject is buried in vague remembrance. No one individual 

 can consistently claim credit of producing or originating the Buff Wyandotte. That 

 honor is to be divided among several breeders who were simultaneously working to 

 accomplish a certain end, though in most instances through different channels. The 

 first effort of which the writer has been able to obtain an accurate date was made 

 by W. N. Nicholoy, of Newark, New York. In 1885 he mated Buff Cochins and 

 Golden Wyandottes to produce a Buff Wyandotte, and followeil up with a series 

 of matings and crosses that produce one of the noted strains of the present day. 

 In 1894 Mr. Nicholoy exhibited Buff Wyandottes at Madison Square Garden show 

 and won first breeding pen and the society bronze medal for the best exhibit of the 

 variety, besides first, second and third on single birds. 



About the time that Mr. Nicholoy began his efforts to produce the new variety, 

 and certainly not later than 1886, George H. Brackenbury, of Auburn, New York, 

 started a series of matings and crossings that soon produced most excellent results. 



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