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Chapter XXXVI. 
iMINORCAS. 
It is scarcely necessary to attempt to deal with the origin of the Minorca Fowl, as it is a recognised fact that 
the modern specimen is composed of the blood of more than one distinct breed. 
There is little doubt but that the present day Fowl is a much finer, larger, and better bird than its 
ancestors. The laying capabilities of the Minorca are of the highest, and, if mere weight of eggs is to be 
considered a test, the Minorca still leads, and for table purposes the Minorca is superior to most of the 
Mediterranean varieties. One great advantage this breed possesses is its adaptability to all surrounding 
circumstances, and if kept in confined runs, properly fed and housed, will give excellent returns. The Black 
variety is an invaluable Fowl for city and suburban Fanciers to keep, owing to the colour being specially 
adapted to wear well. The breed is very active in disposition, but extremely docile, the hens being 
wonderfully tame and confiding. As an Autumn layer, when eggs are high in price and scarce, the Minorca 
hen will keep up her reputation, and if the pullets are hatched even late in the season will commence to lay 
when five months old. The breed matures very rapidly, and, on this account — where size is required — the 
pullets should be continually moved about from run to run, so that laying will be retarded as much as 
possible. For crossing with other varieties of poultry, or even common barn-yard stock, the Minorca cock 
is a great acquisition, possessing the powers of prepotency to a marked degree. 
In breeding Minorcas for exhibition, it will be well to make a start in a proper manner by purchasing 
reliable stock at the beginning, thus saving a great amount of expense and disappointment which must 
necessarily follow if this is overlooked, as it must be borne in mind that a great deal of care and judgment are 
required in the mating of the very best adult stock if good results are expected. 
In breeding Minorcas, as in other varieties of Poultry, it must be remembered that certain characteristic 
and " Fancy " points are influenced to a great extent by the cock, such as comb, lobes, colour, and carriage, 
the future size and shape of body depending to a greater extent upon the hen, hut, at the same time, one defect or 
more on one side of the stock birds must be counterbalanced by the other ; though again, where this 
can be at all avoided, the better the adult stock — if carefully bred — the better the progeny will turn out. 
The cock to head the breeding-pen should have good lobes, well developed ; well serrated, and perfectly erect 
comb, and be fairly tall on the leg. The carriage of the cock's tail is most important. This should be 
carried well back, not high or squirrel, as this fault is almost certain to be perpetuated in the young stock 
bred from him. The hens should be fairly tall on the leg, large as possible in frame, good length and depth 
of body, with t^ils carried well back. Care must be taken in discarding birds of either sex for the breeding- 
pen which possess side sprigs on the comb, as this serious fault is strongly hereditary. Birds two years old 
on both sides make an ideal breeding-pen, but this course cannot always be followed, and good results may 
be obtained by using a cockerel with two-year-old hens, or a two-year-old cock with well matured-pullets. 
In this variety, again, it is best to have separate breeding-pens to produce cockerels and pullets. To 
breed cockerels, birds as above described will produce them uniformly, but to breed pullets the cock may 
have a thin comb, and even if not perfectly erect, providing it is well serrated and he is good in other 
essential points, he may be mated with hens that have also thin combs, fine in texture with spikes not too 
broad, but plenty of them, and results will turn out satisfactorily. The cock or cockerel to head the pullet 
breeding-pen may be deeper and thicker in body than the one used for cockerel breeding. 
The feeding of Minorca chickens is much the same as directed in Chap. VI., on the Feeding, Rearing, 
and Management of Chickens, avoiding too stimulating a diet with this variety, as it must be borne in mind 
that this breed develops rapidly, and, if the object to be attained is the building up of the frame of the fowl 
