The Sultan is a Turkish

breed A breed is a specific group of 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 several slig ...

crested chicken Crested chickens are a group of ornamental chicken breeds characterised by a tuft or crest of upward-pointing feathers on the head. History and distribution A skull excavated in England suggests that crested chickens were present there in R ...

. The name derives from the original

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

name of ''Sarai-Tavuk'', which translates as "fowls of the palace". They have always been primarily ornamental, having been kept in the gardens of Ottoman sultanate. In the West they are bred for competitive showing as part of poultry fancy, and are generally a rare sight. The breed was first exported from its native country in 1854, when a Ms. Elizabeth Watts of

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

brought a small flock to Britain. It was seen in North America by 1867, and was recognized officially by acceptance into 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 ...

Standard of Perfection The ''American Standard of Perfection'' is the official breed standard for the poultry fancy in North America. First published in 1874 by the American Poultry Association, the ''Standard of Perfection'' (commonly referred to as "the ''Standard''" ...

in 1874. Sultans have a great deal of decorative plumage, including large, puffy crests, beards, long tails, and profuse foot feathering. Their small, V-shaped

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are almost entirely hidden under feathering. Sultans are also one of a minority of breeds to have five toes on each foot. With males weighing approximately 2.7 kilos (6 pounds) and hens 2 kilos (4 pounds), they are the smallest of the large breeds of chickens. They also have a bantam version. Sultans appear in three varieties: black, blue, and white, with white being the most well known. Hens lay small white eggs at a slow rate, and do not generally go broody.

References

Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in Turkey Animal breeds on the RBST Watchlist {{poultry-stub