Andalusian

Chris Graham sings the praises of the Andalusian; a really useful breed that, despite its many plus points, remains stubbornly stuck in the wings.

One of the biggest mysteries associated with the Andalusian is why it continues to be so rare! For a breed that has so much going for it, it’s strange that it remains in the hands of so few keepers today.

So what’s the problem? Does the name simply sound too foreign? Are people put off by the prospect of a hard-to-handle, Mediterranean temperament? Or perhaps it’s simply that the breed’s presence has fallen to such a degree that, nowadays, it’s hard to learn about, and even harder to buy.

Whatever the reason, the Andalusian’s current popularity plight is a crying shame, and I believe that would-be keepers are certainly missing a great opportunity as a result. This bird really can provide a genuinely useful, back-garden proposition; a beautiful and elegant appearance combines with all the utility performance you could reasonably wish for from a pure breed, to produce an attractively different yet highly desirable chicken.

Yet, despite having been around for well over 100 years in more or less its present form – and being available in bantam form, too – these pretty birds are regrettably forced to languish on the periphery of the poultry Fancy, without a dedicated club to support or promote their overall wellbeing

Spanish roots?

Like so many of our ‘traditional’ pure breeds, the waters of the Andalusian’s genetic background are decidedly muddied! Popular belief has it that the breed was originally developed by sherry barons in southwestern Spain, in a region around Cadiz, called Andalusia. Certainly, Spanish fowl from that area were used as a starting point, but most of the actual evidence suggests that the significant breeding and development work was actually carried out in England.