The Blue Andalusian, , is a

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

indigenous to the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

in south-west

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is distributed through much of the countryside of Córdoba and

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, and is concentrated particularly in the area of Utrera, which is considered the heartland of the breed. In 2009 the population was estimated at birds. A very different type of Andalusian, more intensely blue and with blue-laced plumage, was created in England from birds imported from Andalusia through

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...

and

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

with birds of other breeds.

History

There is little information on the early history of the Andalusian. Blue chickens from Andalusia were imported to England no later than 1851. The creation of the "international" type of Andalusian, with blue-laced plumage, is attributed to the English, whether in Andalusia or in Britain. Two breeders in particular are thought to have started this process, which took many years: one named Coles, from

Fareham, Hampshire Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufa ...

, and a certain John Taylor of

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

, in west London. Another claimant was Augusta Legge who was the countess of Dartmouth.K. D. Reynolds, Legge, Augusta, countess of Dartmouth (1822–1900)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 12 March 2017
/ref> Andalusians were shown at

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder James Baker. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises. The street is ...

, London, in January 1853; they were not included in the original ''Standard of Excellence'' in 1865. Andalusians reached the United States in about 1850–1855, and were included in the first edition of the ''

Standard of Perfection The ''American Standard of Perfection'' is the official book of breed standards of the American Poultry Association. It classifies and describes the standard physical appearance, coloring and temperament for many breeds of poultry recognized i ...

'' of the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respons ...

in 1874. The breed arrived in South America in 1870, and was first shown in Germany in the same year. A bantam was created in the 1880s.

Characteristics

The slate-blue plumage of the Andalusian is caused by a

dilution gene A dilution gene is any one of a number of genes that act to create a lighter coat color in living creatures. There are many examples of such genes: General Diluted coat colors have melanocytes, but vary from darker colors due to the concentration ...

, which, in combination with the E gene for black plumage, produces partial dilution of the

melanin Melanin (; ) is a family of biomolecules organized as oligomers or polymers, which among other functions provide the pigments of many organisms. Melanin pigments are produced in a specialized group of cells known as melanocytes. There are ...

which gives the black colour. Not all Andalusians are blue: birds with two copies of the gene have near-total dilution, and are off-white; birds with no copies have no dilution, and are black; those with one copy have partial dilution, and are blue. Blue birds occur, in

Mendelian proportion Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularized by ...

, twice as often as each of the other colours. All are present in the population. The earlobes of the Andalusian are smooth, white, and almond-shaped; the crest is single and of medium size, with five well-defined points. The skin is white and the legs and feet are black.

Use

Andaluza Azul hens lay about 165 white eggs per year; eggs weigh . Blue-bred white hens lay the largest eggs.

References

{{Chicken breeds of Spain Conservation Priority Breeds of the Livestock Conservancy Chicken breeds originating in Spain Animal breeds on the RBST Watchlist Animal breeds on the GEH Red List Chicken breeds