AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

What a great article .

thanks for that link
a really good article!!

This atricle only corroborates my personal view about the Sicilian Buttercup as never having a status as a breed in Siciliy. But please take the time to review this book. If you have the money, it is available from Blackwood's I think for $28.00 US.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0293988267

It explains how the this breed and all others in USA were developed or how to develop them. An innocuous book in recent reprint from the 1920's. One could do a lot worse than purchasing this one.

good article byhook

A piece of history there. I laughed thinking about the cats you could just imagine what they were thinking, lunch, hehehehehe

Nice article.

I want to ask some questions of someone with good knowledge of sicilian buttercups. Can someone help me with the Australian standard interpretation because it seems to be different to what I am seeing in photos etc?

Tiger.

I would be pleased to answer any question on Buttercups. Everything I ever wanted to know I had to learn first hand over the last five to six years as there is no one in Australia that can claim to have ever seen any left from the old line 1920's.

So, fire away.

Gday Tiger , I reckon we could do with another rarebreeder at our end of the Island , and Byhookorbychooks your man for rarebreed advice

Thanks,

I was fortunate enough to be given a pair of sicilian buttercups (or butter'nuts', not bunyanuts, as I prefer to call them) from a friend who has had them for quite a few years. I was told they were bought many years ago and not created. Despite that, I doubt they are a pure line either.

In every photo I have ever seen of butternuts they have white ear lobes - consistent with the American standard. The American standard says that an earlobe with any less than 2/3 white is a defect. The British and Australian standards both say ear lobes should be red, and white lobes are listed as a serious defect. The picture in the Australian standard shows a cock bird with white lobes. Even the black and white photo depicted in the British standard appears to show a light coloured lobe.

I would like to know your take on this information. I notice your pictures also show white lobes.

My birds are not of good type although my friend has some fair ones. I will need to continue working with my friend to improve them. They have been selected for the red lobes following advice given to my friend a number of years ago.

Cheers, Tiger.