The Sumatra is a European and North American

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 ...

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 ...

. It derives from birds imported in the nineteenth century from the island of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

fighting cocks Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term " ...

History

The Sumatra derives from birds brought in 1847 from the island of

to the United States for use as

. It was recognised in the United States in 1883 and in the United Kingdom in 1906. Birds were imported to Germany from the United States in 1882.

Characteristics

The original

colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...

of the Sumatra was the black – often with a rich beetle-green sheen – which was added to the ''American Standard of Perfection'' in 1883, and was standardised in Britain in 1906. The blue is the only other colour recognised by 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 ...

; it was added in 2003. The

Poultry Club of Great Britain The Poultry Club of Great Britain is a registered charity founded in 1877. Its stated purpose is to "safeguard the interests of all pure and traditional breeds of poultry including chickens, bantams, ducks, geese and turkeys". The club main ...

recognises black, blue and white, while the

Entente Européenne Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements: History * Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case o ...

recognises the black, black-red and wild type but not the blue. Cocks weigh , and hens about . The

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

is pea-shaped and as small as possible. The beak, face, earlobes, throat, comb, shanks and feet are as dark as possible, preferably black. The Sumatra retains a strong flying ability, unlike most modern chicken breeds.

Use

The Sumatra may be reared as an ornamental breed or for showing. Hens are good layers of white or cream-coloured eggs, of which they may lay about 130 per year. They are very good sitters, and may be used to hatch eggs of other breeds, including water-fowl.

References

Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in Indonesia Chicken breeds originating in Sumatra {{bots, deny=Citation bot