Tab10 Hühner (Geflügel-Album, Jean Bungartz, 1885)

The Malay is a breed of game

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

. It is among the tallest breeds of chicken, and may stand over (36 inches) high. The Malay is bred principally in Europe, and in Australia and the United States. It was derived, partly in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

in south-west England, from birds imported from Indian subcontinent or

South-east Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

in the first decades of the nineteenth century, when large birds of this type were widespread in northern India, in Indonesia and in the Malay Peninsula. The Malay was the first chicken breed to be bantamised; a dwarf version of the standard-sized breed was created at the turn of the twentieth century.

History

From about 1830 very large game chickens were imported to England, where they became fashionable and were

selectively bred 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 ...

by English breeders. Some imports are documented from the Malay Peninsula, others from the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

of India. Those from India were sometimes called Grey Chittagongs, but were considered to be closely similar to the Malay. They were particularly numerous in Devon and Cornwall, especially in the area round Falmouth, which was a common first port of call for returning

East Indiamen East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

. They were also numerous in Ireland, in the area of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. Malays were shown at the first British poultry exhibition in 1845, and were included in the ''Standard of Excellence'', the first edition of the

British Poultry Standards The front cover of the 6th Edition of the British Poultry Standards. The ''British Poultry Standard'' is the oldest poultry fancy breed standard in the world. It is published by the Poultry Club of Great Britain and is the official reference s ...

, in 1865. Malay birds were present in Germany and the Netherlands by about 1834, and by 1846 were introduced to the United States also. The black-breasted red Malay was included in the '' Standard of Perfection'' of the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in the 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 respo ...

from 1883, and the bantam in 1904; five other colours, both standard- and bantam-sized, were added in 1981. Numbers of the breed in the USA are very low; its

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservatio ...

is listed as "critical" by the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

Characteristics

The Malay has an upright stance, a well muscled form and a large skull. Nowadays they are selected to be better egg-layers than in the 1970s with 70 to 120 eggs annually for a young hen and older hens laying only 30 to 55 eggs.

Use

Today, in the West the Malay is mainly kept for participation in poultry shows by breeders. It is considered a hard-feathered,

gamefowl A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

breed. Malay chickens have been used in Brazil for the creation of the Índio Gigante Chicken.

History

Characteristics

Use

References

See also