- a Breed with Rhythm in the Blood

Transcription

1 THE CUBALAYA - a Breed with Rhythm in the Blood By Michael Kruppert (Germany) The Cubalaya comes from Cuba. This Caribbean Island is the home of the Cha-Cha-Cha and the Conga folk dances, also the special and only chicken breed ever bred there, the Cubalaya. Understandably rhythm and vitality lay in the Blood. The second part of the name possibly refers to inclusion in the breed s making of the Malayan type breeds: Malayas Cola de Camaron and the Malayas Pavos. Fighting cock type breeds from the Philippines (Manilos de Regla) are also mentioned, and in more recent times, Game Fowl from Vietnam (Ga Cua). These are supposed to have been brought by Portuguese or Spanish seafarers to Cuba. Above and right: Cubalayas in black breasted red, wheaten/cinnamon, blue wheaten/cinnamon, white and black at K. and L. Wagner s, Freiensteinau, Germany.

2 Especially the lightly built and with profuse white marking Ga Cua from Vietnam could have played a major role. This is indicated in the first instance by the form, body posture and tail, but also through the common occurrence and allowed amount of white in the tail and flight feathers. Another indication is the smaller size of Ga Cua compared to that of our modern Malay and Sumatra. Of course, also Sumatra-type chickens or perhaps even present day s Sumatra may have been interbred. Indications of this are in the long richly feathered tail and the commonly occurring multiple spurs. With a weight of 2 to 2.5 kilo for cocks and 1.5 to 2 kilo for hens, the Cubalaya belongs to the lighter poultry breeds. Together with the Sumatra and Yokohama they build the group of Longtail Fowl, related to the Game Fowl. Right: Cubalaya rooster and hens, black breasted red /wheaten /cinnamon at O. Prusko, Kriftel, Germany. Photo taken by O. Prusko. Below: Roosters in Black Breasted Red and Blue Breasted Red. Breeder: Michael Kruppert, Schlitz, breeders was formed and thanks to the breeder Leandro de la Torriente a standard for type and colour was established. Right: Blue Breasted Red rooster and blue wheaten /cinnamon hens. A decisive event, on the 19th November 1935 the name Cubalaya was recognised by the Cuban s Poultry Breeders Association; this was a sort of Seal of Approval for the Republic of Cuba. Just four years later the breed was Around 1890 in Cuba there was without doubt the forerunner of the modern Cubalaya. It was often crossed with European Game Breeds but the Malay type was ever dominant with the profuse tail feathers. Very soon it was plain that an individual 'Cuban' Breed had been produced. A group of

3 also included into the American Standard of Perfection. In the same year the Cubalaya was presented at the 7 th World Poultry Congress in Cleveland Ohio, USA. There were probably some 850,000 visitors from all over the World. The Cubans were very proud that they were the only exhibitors from the Spanish speaking World presenting a native breed. As a result, the Cubalaya also found its fanciers in the USA. Today there are even excellent Cubalayas in the USA, plus a bantam version of the Cubalaya. Some of the best known USA Breeders at present are Dr. Charles Everett, William Bender Jr., Jim Zook and Christopher Wallen. Above: Group of Niederrheiner and Cubalaya roosters at K. and L. Wagner, Freiensteinau, Germany. On Cuba it is recognised that the Cubalaya has become a cultural heritage worthy of preserving. Odalis Martin, President of the Sociedad Cubana de Producción Avícola (Cuban s Poultry Breeders Association) and other Cuban breeders want to prevent the threatened extinction on Cuba of the Cubalaya, which at this present time is rare on the island and in real danger of extinction. Right: Head of a white hen. In Germany the Cubalaya has been known for more than 30 years now. Gerd Roth, the present breed spokesperson for the German Cubalaya Club, took the first hatching eggs from the USA to Germany in The opportunity for this was a work related visit overseas and visit with German decent Game Poultry expert Horst W. Schmudde from New Jersey, just two years before Schmudde had made the exotic Cubalaya breed known in Germany with an article in the German Poultry Magazine 'Geflügel-Börse.

4 Although Schmudde's breeding lines were soon disbanded and the colours all mixed together, it was possible later to breed colours recognised today. Kurt Wagner, Franz Swist - who had adult birds directly from Schmudde - and Volker Carrey arranged for the recognition of the Cubalaya with the BDRG (Bund Deutscher Rassegeflügelzüchter). A few years were necessary for the Black Breasted Red/Wheaten/cinnamon Cubalaya to be recognised under the German recognition system, 1983 it came to pass. Since then there have always been a hard core of fanciers engaged with the breed. In 1999 followed the recognition of the Blue Breasted Red/ Blue Wheaten/ cinnamon and 2001 the White, each due to the efforts of the fancier partnership and married couple, Kurt and Lieselotte Wagner. Both colours were and still are recognised in the USA; these colours developed out of the 1970's hatching eggs delivered to Germany and had for a long time free range at the home of the Wagner's alongside the Black Breasted Red colour. Recently, through intensive selection at the Wagners, the stubborn hereditary problem of the coloured breast in the hens of the White variety has been brought under control. For these significant and knowledgeable breeders efforts a great deal of appreciation should be given. Right: The three in Germany recognized colours: Black Breasted Red (cinnamon), Blue Breasted Red (blue cinnamon) and white at K. and L. Wagner, Freiensteinau, Germany. In the German Ur- und Kampfhuhn-Club (Game Fowl Association), the Cubalaya had a rather minor role, so that Kurt Wagner, Gerd Roth, Friedrich Hensel and Peter Henrich decided to form a separate club for the breed, that since 2001 has patiently encouraged the keeping of the breed according to the standards and the aims of the breed club. As Kurt Wagner retired as club chairman, Julius Kölsch took over and contributed to the new increase in popularity of the breed. The breeders Winter, Nußbauer, Rall, Seeburger, Götz, Schäfer, Schuhen, Bertram, Härtel, Mockenhaupt and Kruppert have also encouraged the breed in Europe. At the time of this article, the Breed Club Membership stands at 34, some from Austria and Hungary, by any means a good mix of experienced and young breeders. Since 1935, has anything in the aims of the breeders of this traditional breed from Cuba changed? No, it has not. Cubalaya are still a lively poultry breed with a gamey look, sloping stance and long, well spread lobster tail. Looking closely at the head, the 'game look' must be evident, a short, strong beak; a three row pea-comb that should not fall over the eye; very small throat wattles and the broad and only slightly over the eye brow ridges are the be and end all of the head points of this breed. Certainly

5 with more mature birds this brow ridge should be clearly evident, then the red to red-brown eye would appear more deeply set. Logically the face and the ear lobes are red colour. The steeply sloping broad back and rump should be long with a broad saddle; this shows to perfection the breed characteristics, only this will give a base for the broad spread lobster tail. This tail completing the breed form. Left: N. Altstetter s son with a young blue wheaten/cinnamon Cubalaya hen. Photo taken by N. Altstetter, Germany. Typically is the tail carried slightly under the horizontal and slightly curved. Schmudde described: A good lobster tail - males or hens - show the lower tail feathers overlapping the next upper pair and so forth. Sight should not be lost of the unbroken line from the base of the neck to the tip of the tail, medium high on the legs, with clear view of the long thighs, that should not be covered by the wings; the long thighs keeping the tail from sweeping the floor too much. The legs and toes should be flesh colour, the unrecognised Black colour has slate legs. The leg scales are smooth, in older birds often larger, slightly thicker scales. Above: Cubalaya eggs with spots. Right: Cubalaya hen with chicks by M. Kruppert, Schlitz, Germany. Cubalayas come with single and multiple spurs. Birds of the same quality but with multiple spurs should

6 be preferred, as this particular character is a breed point traditionally favoured by the Cuban breeders. The cockerels are the same as the hens except for the usual sexual differences. With the hen the comb is smaller, the back-line more sloping, and the tail more noticeable and even more widely spread. The expected egg production is between 100 and 160 per year depending on the breeding line, brooding, etc. - with a minimum weight of 50 grams; the shell colour is white to pale brown with ideally small coloured flecks. Left: White and cinnamon Cubalayas by W. Rall, Darmstadt, Germany. Photo taken by M. Kruppert. Below: W. Rall with Cubalaya chicks in different colours. The favorite colour is the Black Breasted Red/ Cinnamon, a paling of the Partridge colour or conversely a darking of the Gold Wheaten colour. The cock exhibits a brown-red hackle, ideally without a shaft stripe, only in part of the lower hackle/saddle can it pale to a light gold. With the hen a pale cinnamon colour is wanted; the head and neck feathers a chestnut brown colour, back, wings, saddle and tail covert feathers cinnamon brown, the breast, thighs and belly a paler wheaten brown. With the Blue Cinnamon the black of the Black Breasted Red colour (markings) is replaced by blue and the decorative feather of the cocks, as well as the head feathers of the hen are a paler,

7 gold brown respectively cinnamon brown. Important to state is that with both the colour varieties white is allowed in the flight feathers, with the Blues, also in the tail. The seldom White variety should be a pure creamy white colour, the cockerels allowed a slight yellowish wash in the hackle and saddle feathers. All 3 varieties - Black Breasted Red/ Cinnamon, Blue Breasted Red/ Cinnamon and White - hatch with a yellowish white down colour. Above: White Cubalaya pair by M. Kruppert. Several European breeders at the present time have the Black (in the USA recognised) and one breeder has the Silver Hackle variety. In the USA there are

8 also Blue, Golden, Blue Golden, Lemon and Blue Lemon /Wheaten colour. The American Poultry Association only recognizes three varieties. Black Breasted Red, White and Black. Golden (Duckwings) have become quite popular with Cubalaya enthusiasts in America also. They were created by Jon Castinetti many years ago, but not yet admitted. Alongside the breed s optical presence is also the breed character; whether they are tame or shy depends on the individual fancier. Both experienced and young fanciers are attracted to their lively character. It often happens that the cock bird watches over a laying hen or will sit in another nest. The management is simple. They are adapted to local weather conditions and are eager foragers in free range conditions, although tit-bits such as crushed oats, carrots or sunflower seeds are gladly accepted. I can promise that anyone who has once kept the breed would says forever "Yes!" to the Cubalaya. For more information please contact the author, Michael Kruppert, michael.kruppert@gmx.de, or by telephone, the Chairman of the Club, Julius Kölsch Tel. (0049) ) or over the Website of the Breed Club www. cubalaya.de.tl Above: Cubalaya Club Meeting 2011 in Schlitz, Germany. Photo: M. Kruppert. Copyright 2012 Aviculture-Europe. All rights reserved by VBC.