Hardiness of Spanish when at Liberty. 
343 
friends have looked at this tree and its occupants in the autumn, a little after roosting time, with 
perfect astonishment. After the first frosty night the whole of the leaves come down, yet the 
chickens do not change their roosting-place, though there is a shed not more than ten yards from 
it with perches and boxes, which some of the chickens use when they begin to lay. I may add 
that the droppings from the birds cause the mulberry to bear the largest berries I ever saw on a 
tree of the kind. Those that cannot get to the mulberry tree (the part in which it stands being 
wired off) prefer the hazel pear tree to any other, probably on account of the branches growing 
more horizontally than those of many other trees. In the winter of 1871-2 fifteen Spanish pullets, 
with several cockerels, roosted in a very high hazel pear tree, and certainly in the most exposed 
part of the orchard — indeed, they were blown down by the storms several times during winter — yet 
they laid more eggs from the first of November to the fifteenth of February than the same number 
of Brahma and Cochin pullets, ten of which were hatched quite as early. Some of the Brahmas 
roosted in the same tree with the Spanish, the remainder and the Cochins in the chicken-boxes 
in which they were reared ; all were in the same orchard, laid in the same nests, and were fed with 
the same food. 
“One of the objections to Spanish or any other chickens roosting in trees is, that ever after 
during life they preserve the inclination to roost out, especially if there be trees they can get into. 
Another objection to Spanish roosting in trees during winter is, that the frost, if very severe, will 
blacken the tips of the spikes and sometimes the higher part of the comb, especially of the 
cockerels ; but it must be remembered that even a slight frost will do the same to those that have 
been shut up in a house, if they are let out early in the morning. Though now many years ago, I 
well remember going to the mulberry tree when it was freezing very severely one night, and taking 
three splendid cockerels out of the tree into a building for the night, to keep them from having 
their combs coloured with frost. The day after the combs of all three turned a livid, unnatural 
colour ; two days after they were quite black, and the wattles nearly the size and shape of goose 
eggs hanging with the large end down ; and, finally, the combs and wattles of all three gangrened, 
and the birds had to be killed. There were several other cockerels and a number of pullets left in 
the tree these three were taken from, and not one of these was the least injured, except that one or 
two were a little discoloured at the ends of the spikes of the combs. 
“ That Spanish are tender when roosting in warm closed-up houses I know ; but give them 
open, airy roosting-places and a free run, and I firmly believe they are as hardy as any other 
breed, except Brahmas, and if not made too fat, are subject to fewer diseases than any other 
variety of fowls. My old birds roost in houses that were built for single horses ; these have rather 
large doors, which, with the windows, are always left open day and night, except that the doors are 
closed every night the frost is severe ; at all other times, even in winter, they have nearly as much 
fresh air as if roosting out. Spanish kept in this way are not tender. Even old birds, up to three 
years old, with me will go through their moult quite as fast as any variety I know, and lay as well 
during winter as hens of the same age of any other variety. I know well from experience that the 
treatment Spanish receive to have their faces in show condition would make any other variety 
tender to a degree. I should not advise any one to exhibit Spanish that have had their full liberty, 
without putting them up eight or ten days before the show ; and even Cochins or Brahmas would 
suffer quite as much as Spanish if exposed to cold after the treatment Spanish generally receive 
before exhibition : nay, I firmly believe that other breeds would never bear what Spanish 
exhibition birds do bear, but if treated in the same way would die of roup, from which disease 
Spanish is more free than any other variety of fowl. 
“For breeding Spanish, the birds should be put together not later than the first of January; 
