Skip to main content

Appenzeller Spitzhauben Chicken

Appenzeller Spitzhauben chicken is noted for its very unusual forward-pointing crest and v-shaped comb. It is a very beautiful chicken breed originating in the North-Eastern Appenzell region of Switzerland.

It is the national bird of Switzerland, having existed there for centuries. Appenzeller Spitzhauben chicken was named after the ladies lace bonnets of Appenzellerland. The word "spitzhauben" means pointed bonnet.

It is a very rare chicken breed in the United States and not yet admitted to the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection and not by any other breed registries or standards.

There are two varieties of this chicken breed available. And both types appear in either black, golden spangled and silver spangled plumage.

Nowadays, Appenzeller Spitzhauben chicken is largely an ornamental breed and kept for showing, but it is also a great layer of white eggs. Review characteristics, behavior and full breed profile of Appenzeller Spitzhauben chicken below.

Characteristics of Appenzeller Spitzhauben Chicken

Appenzeller Spitzhauben chicken is a very beautiful breed. It has a well spread tail, full hackle and fairly hard, tight plumage. It has well proportioned round body and their crest is tipped forward over face.

Appenzeller Spitzhauben chickens have v-shaped comb without any side sprigs. Their eyes are dark brown and have large nostrils. The breed has no beards or muffs. They have blue/slate legs and their skin color is white.

appenzeller spitzhauben chicken, appenzeller spitzhauben chickens, silver spangled appenzeller spitzhauben, appenzeller spitzhauben hatching eggs, appenzeller spitzhauben chicken characteristics, appenzeller spitzhauben chicken behavior, appenzeller spitzhauben chicken temperament, appenzeller spitzhauben chicken facts, appenzeller chicken, appenzeller chickens, appenzeller spitzhauben chicken eggs, appenzeller spitzhauben chicken color, appenzeller spitzhauben chicken eggs color

The wattles of Appenzeller Spitzhauben chicken are long and fine and their ear lobes are white and oval shaped. They have a powerful beak with large deep nostrils and a fleshy knob at the front of the beak.

Appenzeller Spitzhauben is a light weight poultry breed. On an average, the roosters weight about 2 kg and the hens about 1.6 kg. Photo from Wikipedia.

Behavior/Temperament

Appenzeller Spitzhauben chickens are excellent climbers and are ideally suited to mountain life. They don't have so much to get frostbitten, as they only have small wattles and combs. They like to roost in trees. They are not flighty or nervous like the Leghorn chicken.

They are quiet and friendly in nature, but they can't tolerate confinement. They are great foragers and will look after themselves and live happily when insects are plentiful.

They are economic breed and will take most of it's feed from outside, if allowed to access pasture or roam freely. They like to roam freely and prefer roosting in trees. Hens are good layers of white eggs and have good feed to eggs ratio.

They are active, alert and really don't do well in confinement. So don't keep them unless you can't allow them to roam freely throughout the day. However, review full breed profile of Appenzeller Spitzhauben chicken below.

Breed NameAppenzeller Spitzhauben
Other NameAppenzeller, Silver Spangled Spitzhauben
Breed PurposeOrnamental, Show
Breed TemperamentFriendly, Easily Handled, Calm, Docile, Shy, Quiet, Can’t Bear Confinement well
Breed SizeLarge
BroodinessSeldom
CombV-Shaped
Climate ToleranceAll Climates
Egg ColorWhite
Egg SizeMedium
Egg ProductivityMedium
Feathered LegsNo
RarityAvailable
VarietiesBlack, Golden Spangled, Silver Spangled/Silver Crescent are found in the UK and USA
Country of OriginSwitzerland

Comments

Popular Posts

Murray Grey Cattle

The Murray Grey cattle are a breed of beef cattle from Australia. It was developed in the upper Murray River valley on the New South Wales. The breed was developed in 1905 from an initial chance mating of a black Aberdeen Angus bull and a roan Shorthorn cow during the Federation drought. From these matings the resulting thirteen dun-grey calves were kept as curiosities. And then Peter and Ena Sutherland bred them on the Thologolong property along the Murray River in New South Wales. Murray Grey cattle grew faster and were good converters of feed and produced quality carcases. These are the reasons this animals become very popular after their development. And local farmers became interested soon in these animals and began breeding them. The first large scale commercial farms were established in the 1940s. Today the breed is available in many countries. Both live Murray Grey cattle and embryos have been exported to many countries such as Canada, South America, New Ze...

Sorting Cattle

Sorting cattle is important if you have a large number of animals. For better management you will need to separate the animals into different groups depending on their age, size, gender or condition score. If some cattle of your herd need to be examined by a veterinarian or confined due to injury or illness, then separation may also need to be done. Sorting is also needed for separating the calves that need to be weaned from their mothers. And separating the bulls is also necessary after they have done their duty with breeding cows. Sorting Cattle Sorting cattle is not actually a difficult task. It can be done easily if you understand stockmanship principles that take advantage of bovine psychology and behavior. However, here we are describing more about the ways of sorting cattle. Sorting From a Squeeze Chute In this system you can move your cattle through a working corral into a chute system into the squeeze. In this system you can check and process animals f...

Andalusian Black Cattle Farming

Andalusian Black cattle farming is not too popular, even in it's native area. It is a relatively rare breed which is valued for meat production. But today, the breed is listed as 'endangered', and total number of the breed is very less. The Andalusian Black cattle is a taurine cattle breed, and it was originated in west Andalusia, Spain. It is also known by some other names such as Negra de las Campiñas, Negra Campiñesa and Spanish: Negra Andaluza. The Andalusian Black cattle is actually a beef cattle breed which is raised primarily for meat production purpose. The breed is found in two main areas of west Andalusia (from Cordova to the foothills of the Sierra Morena), and in the provinces of Seville, Cádiz and Huelva. Today, total population of the Andalusian Black cattle breed is very less. And there were about 800 purebred cattle in the year of 2007. Total number of this breed decreased mainly for crossbreeding with other local cattle breeds. Other reason...

Belted Galloway Cattle Farming

Belted Galloway cattle farming is popular, especially in it's native area. It is a beef cattle breed and raised mainly for meat production purpose. The breed is also known by some other names such as Beltie, Oreo Cow and Panda Cow. The Belted Galloway cattle breed was originated from Galloway in the west side of Southern Scotland. It is a heritage breed, and is well adapted to living on the poor upland pastures and wildswept moorlands of the region. Exact origins of the breed are unclear. But it is often surmised that the white belt of the breed may be a result of cross breeding with the Dutch Lakenvelder belted cattle. And the breed is named so mainly because of the belt. An association for the breed named the Belted Galloway Association was formed in 1921 in Scotland. And the name of the association was changed to Belted Galloway Society in the year of 1951. The association keeps and records pedigrees for Belted Galloways and oversees the registration of White and Re...

Cleaning A Cow

Cleaning a cow in the proper way can keep the animal look and feel fresh. Cleaning also help to prevent external parasites. You may also need to clean your cow to show it off at your local county fair or other occasions. And you need to clean your cows more often especially if you have dairy cows. You can integrate a spraying system for cleaning a cow once a day or so. Along with cleaning the body, you should also provide a footbath for better health of the cow's hooves. However, here we are describing more about the process of cleaning a cow. Sprinkler System Add Sprinkler in a Pre-milking Wash Pen You can construct a pre-milking wash pen with sprinklers for cleaning multiple cows. In this system, install sprinklers all along the pen you hold the cows in before milking. Using concrete for the floor will be good. It will help to keep the floor dry quickly and you will not have a constantly muddy area. You should spray sprinklers both up and down to wash the cows th...

Agerolese Cattle Farming

Agerolese cattle farming is not common, even in it's native area. It is a dairy cattle breed which is raised mainly for milk production purpose in it's native area. It is a pretty rare breed and not available outside it's native area. The Agerolese cattle is actually from the area of Agerola, in Campania in southern Italy. It was developed from cross-breeding of indigenous Podolica cattle with Bruna Italiana, Italian Holstein-Friesian and Jersey cattle. The breed is particularly associated with the Sorrento Peninsula and Monti Lattari. The Agerolese cattle is one of the 16 minor Italian cattle breeds of limited diffusion recognized and protected by the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, the Italian ministry of agriculture. There were a total of 200 animals available according to a census completed on 1 January 2002. And the conservation status of the Agerolese cattle breed was reported by the FAO as 'endangered-maintained' in 200...

Ankole-Watusi Cattle Farming

Ankole-Watusi cattle farming is pretty popular, especially in it's native area. It is a multi-purpose breed of domestic cattle which is raised and valued for show, draught, meat and milk production purpose. The Ankole-Watusi cattle is a landrace breed, a type of Sanga cattle and originally native to East Africa. It is also known as Ankole Longhorn, and also sometimes known simply as Ankole or Watusi. Ankole-Watusi cattle is actually an ancient breed, and ancient rock paintings and depictions of these animals have been observed in the Sahara region and in the Egyptian arts and pyramid walls. The Sanga breed has spread to the Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and some other parts of Eastern Africa, becoming the base stock of the indigenous African cattle populations. It has most of the usual Zebu characteristics such as the pendulous dewlap and sheath, hump of variable size and the upturned horns. The Ankole-Watusi cattle have played a very important role in the lives of various ...