Minorca (chicken)

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The Minorca is a breed of chicken originating in Spain. They are classified in the Mediterranean class by the American Poultry Association. They lay white eggs. Color varieties include buff, black, white with the British recognizing a blue phase. Minorcas mature quickly and begin crowing sooner than other breeds. It closely related to White-faced Black Spanish and Castilian Black. Minorcas tend to be very flighty.

Characteristics

The Minorca is the largest of the Mediterranean class of fowl in roosters weighing 9 pounds and hens 7 1/2 pounds. They are utility fowl and were once in the class of widespread large flocks for laying and meat production like the Leghorn breed which is the smallest of this class. The distinction of the Minorca is its rather large white ear patch much like the White Faced Black Spanish, another of this class which makes it recognizable at a distance.

The white phase of this breed which once numbered in the thousands is thought now to only have 100 chickens in all of the United States. The breed was developed in England from imported Castilian fowl of Spain. Another of this Minorca group is the Blue Andalusian noted for its equally Minorca large-sized comb which limits this breed from the frigid northern areas of the United States and Canada where comb frostbite is a problem for these birds.

In Popular Culture

In George Orwell's 1945 novell Animal Farm, three Black Minorca hens are mentioned rebelling against Napoleon's regime on the farm.

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