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Abacot Ranger duck The Abacot Ranger was one of many breeds developed from (or crossed with) Indian Runners. Starting with 'sports' from khaki Campbells, themselves originally the product of Runner crosses, Mr Oscar Gray of Abacot Duck Ranch, near Colchester, mated their offspring to a white Indian Runner drake. The eventual results were 'light drakes of khaki carriage and type with dark hoods, and white ducks with blue flight bars and fawn or grey hoods'. This development was begun in 1917 and the Wye College Duck Laying Test of 1922 and 1923 indicates a very successful outcome: the breed came top, with 935 eggs in the four-bird section. Originally called the 'Hooded Ranger', this breed almost died out in the United Kingdom. Imported into Germany via Denmark in 1926, it was 'stabilised' as a colour form by H. Lieker, whence it acquired the name Liekers Streifere (Lieker's Ranger or Scout). In 1934, it was eventually standardised under the name of Streicher-Ente (Ranger Duck). Later standardised by the British Waterfowl Association in 1987, the modern Abacot Ranger owes both its survival and written Standard to the work done in Germany.

Image: Abacot Ranger drake

Image: Abacot Ranger duck

Abdomen The part of the body of a bird located between the thorax and pelvis, containing organs such as the intestines, kidneys and reproductive system.

Abscess A localised collection of pus caused by bacterial infection.

Acute A sudden onset and rapid progression of a disease or condition.

Addled Term used for an egg that, during the incubation period, germinates but fails to develop properly.

African goose The African goose is among the largest and heaviest of the domestic breeds of geese. Both the African and Chinese goose have evolved from the wild swan goose (Anser cygnoides), an Asiatic species, and are distinguished from the western breeds of geese in having a prominent 'knob' rising up from the base of the beak and having smooth, velvet (pile)-like feathering on their necks. The African goose also has a soft dewlap that hangs below its beak. This breed has been present in the United Kingdom since the late seventeenth century and, although standardised in the United States in 1874, it did not appear in the British Poultry Standards until 1982. The name African is misleading as the swan goose is an Asiatic species.

Image: African gander

Image: African goose

AGM Annual general meeting. The breed clubs usually hold them at one of the major poultry shows.

Airsacculitis Inflammation of the air sacs of birds caused by bacterial or viral infection.

Albumen The clear, protein-rich substance found in an egg white.

Altsteirer This breed is credited with originating in Germany; however, in the breed of Styrian, which was developed in Austria, it is mentioned that the birds fell into two categories. One of them was as an egg-laying utility bird, the second version was heavier built and more inclined towards meat production, while still retaining the ability to lay a reasonable number of eggs. It is thought that the Styrian was the version for laying, while the meat bird eventually became the Altsteirer.

At the World Poultry Congress, where the birds were first officially introduced to the public, the meat version of the breed was described by the Feathered World correspondent as being similar in markings to Brown Sussex females.

The shape and balance of the birds is similar to the British Dorking, especially with their well-rounded and prominent chest.

It is also similar to the Sussex Fowl in their original type, which was at one period considered to be almost identical to the Dorking.

This point, coupled with the writer's comment on their colouring being similar to the Brown Sussex, would suggest that one of the breeds was included in their original creation.

Both sexes have a single upright comb that is red in colour. The ear lobes are white and, as with the Styrian, the headgear is completed with a backward-facing crest of feathers that are adequate for decoration without being cumbersome.

It has been suggested that the name of Styrian and Altsteirer are so similar that only a slight change in dialect separates them, which again suggests that the two breeds were at one point actually the same.

Image: Altsteirer large female

American Buff goose The American Buff was developed in North America from common farm geese and is descended from the wild Greylag goose, which inhabits Europe and North Asia. Its history is obscure and there are several theories on how it may have developed. It was standardised in the United States in 1947 and in the United Kingdom in 1982. It differs from the other solid buff-coloured geese, i.e. the British Brecon Buff and the German Celler goose, in being larger and having an orange beak and feet.

Image: American Buff gander

Image: American Buff goose head study

Image: American Buff goose

Anaemia A deficiency of red blood cells or haemoglobin in the blood.

Ancona Named after the province of Ancona in Italy, specimens of this Mediterranean breed were imported into England in 1851. Around the 1880s, more importations of Ancona-type fowls arrived. These were a little more uniform in type and markings, but nowhere approaching the ones seen today. The breakthrough came at about the turn of the century when fresh stock came to the United Kingdom, both from Italy and America, which had by now started to become interested in the 'Spangled Italian Fowl', which was at one stage referred to as the Marchigiana fowl. Harrison Weir in his writings in the early part of the twentieth century was most scathing and critical when referring to Anconas, as Lewis Wright had also been some 30?years previously. In fact, later editions of his 'Book of Poultry' had to retract his statement that they were little more than a cross between black and white Minorcas. It was quickly pointed out to him that such a cross would at best produce cuckoo-type markings, not spangled, and would certainly not have the pigmentation to provide the yellow legs that most of even the earliest imports of birds possessed.

The general opinion was gradually formed that the Ancona was basically the common fowl of Italy, crossed with a breed that enabled it to retain its yellow pigmentation, and at the same time supply the necessary white mottling for it to develop into the Ancona. The common fowl of Italy is accepted as the white Leghorn. This breed had been transported around the world by the Roman sailors who, in their trading, returned home with a different species of fowl. It had to be a breed that could transmit spots or spangling, not simply a mixture of black and white, as in the Exchequer Leghorn (this colour was only developed in 1904 anyhow).

It would seem that for several centuries, the European Continent had a nucleus of farmyard fowls that carried the mottled plumage. These birds were breeding in many types and colours, before being eventually separated and created into breeds.

The Schlotterkamm is a prime example of spangle colouring. These birds also have single combs and white ear lobes. The Bergische Crower is another variation of the bird. The Thuringian has beautifully spotted plumage and a single comb, but has developed a beard and muff. In France there was the Du Monte, which is now believed to be extinct. It was a single-combed and bearded, or whiskered as it was once described. In France, there was also a bird called the Elderfeld, which has great similarity to the Schlotterkamm.

The Houdan also has a spangled type of black and white colouring, but has accumulated not only a beard, but also a full crest, presumably from the Padoue or Poland-type of fowls.

There is a breed that was centuries old and originated from Schlotterkamm, the western part of Germany, adjacent to the Dutch border, and also in The Netherlands, called the Drenthe or Dretenche fowl. These birds had been there for centuries. They had been referred to as resembling Gallus bankiva, which Darwin insisted was the progenitor of the Domestic Fowl.

The Drenthe had been in existence for a very long period, as can be proven by a piece of needlework made in 1805 by a young Dutch girl that clearly shows the birds as they are today. The Drenthe existed in a range of colours, including pencilled, laced cuckoo and the black spangled or speckled, depending on which term the writers used.

In The Netherlands there is also a very long-established breed, which we know as the Friesian, and usually associated with being pencilled in a similar pattern to that of the Hamburghs. However, a beautiful painting by Cornelis Van Gink, shows the Friesians in a mottled colouring, which suggests a relationship with the Drenthe at some point back in history. In Germany the birds that people in the United Kingdom call Anconas were at one time listed under the heading 'Spotted Leghorn', which illustrates their early history. The original ancestors to the Ancona will probably never be traced, but whatever they were, the birds have now been developed into a highly attractive breed, which has been bred to a very high standard of perfection.

Image: Ancona bantam female