Dinosauer
In the Brooder
- Sep 14, 2019
- 14
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I gathered some information about the Altsteirer breed. I m located in Germany - next to Austria, Styria (=Steiermark = Altsteirer) 
The Altsteirer chicken breed may also be called Styrian chicken. It is a large fowl that originate in the state Styria within Austria, Europe.
The breed story of this chicken in short is:
The Altsteirer chickens are descendants of chicken that have existed in Styria for hundreds of years. The old Styrian chicken was then influenced by Polish chicken (maybe from Padua, Italy). The nice little creast on the back of the head is a testimony to that. At the end of the 19th century they were consolidated as a chicken breed and the standard poultry description was established. The next very closely related chicken breed to the Altsteirer chicken are the Sulmtaler chicken, which emerged from old Styrian chicken and Polish chicken, too. But to create Sulmtaler cross breeding with Cochin, Brahma and Langschan was done.
The idea behind the Altsteirer is a strong, mobile country chicken with good laying performance and meat utilization. The meat of this breed is charackterised as of very good quality. A dual purpose chicken breed. I suppose it is very well suited for self-sufficiency gardening and homesteady chicken. The Rooster weights up to 3 kg, the hen a little more than 2 kg. The ring size is 18 and 16 mm in diameter. The egg laying performance in the first year of laying is around 180 ivory-white eggs weighing 55 g each. The brood instinct is described as moderate, so clucking only occurs now and then. Wild brown and white are the two main color patterns of Altsteirer chicken. In England wild brown is labeld as “red”. Some colour patterns of the Altsteirer are (more ore less) extinct at the moment. These are: Black, cuckoo, speckled and silver duckwing. With purposeful crossbreeding and some good ambition it might be possible to revive these colours.
With 1,201 registered breeding animals in Germany, the Altsteirer chicken do not occupy a position in the top 10 of the most-breed large fowl chicken breeds in the 2020 breeding stock survey. In the german red list of farm animals the Altsteirer are categorised as “STRONGLY ENDANGERED". To my mind, over 1,200 breeding animals alone in Germany is quite save for now...
If you are interesed to get in contact with breeders of Altsteirer I ll give you the link to the special club of Altsteirer and Sulmtaler chicken breeders in Germany: https://sv-altsteirer-sulmtaler.de/
Watch out: The Altsteirer chicken can fly very well – that s why they would be very happy about a large chicken run. And I have heard that Altsteirer dont tend to be particularly trusting. If you have any additional information or know some stories about the Altsteirer Styrian Chicken breed, please write them down here. If you could confirm or negate the information about the flying, good quality meat or the character I would be also happy about to know.
I put together a YouTube Video with motion-pictures of this breed. Would be happy if you could give it a try:
The Altsteirer chicken breed may also be called Styrian chicken. It is a large fowl that originate in the state Styria within Austria, Europe.
The breed story of this chicken in short is:
The Altsteirer chickens are descendants of chicken that have existed in Styria for hundreds of years. The old Styrian chicken was then influenced by Polish chicken (maybe from Padua, Italy). The nice little creast on the back of the head is a testimony to that. At the end of the 19th century they were consolidated as a chicken breed and the standard poultry description was established. The next very closely related chicken breed to the Altsteirer chicken are the Sulmtaler chicken, which emerged from old Styrian chicken and Polish chicken, too. But to create Sulmtaler cross breeding with Cochin, Brahma and Langschan was done.
The idea behind the Altsteirer is a strong, mobile country chicken with good laying performance and meat utilization. The meat of this breed is charackterised as of very good quality. A dual purpose chicken breed. I suppose it is very well suited for self-sufficiency gardening and homesteady chicken. The Rooster weights up to 3 kg, the hen a little more than 2 kg. The ring size is 18 and 16 mm in diameter. The egg laying performance in the first year of laying is around 180 ivory-white eggs weighing 55 g each. The brood instinct is described as moderate, so clucking only occurs now and then. Wild brown and white are the two main color patterns of Altsteirer chicken. In England wild brown is labeld as “red”. Some colour patterns of the Altsteirer are (more ore less) extinct at the moment. These are: Black, cuckoo, speckled and silver duckwing. With purposeful crossbreeding and some good ambition it might be possible to revive these colours.
With 1,201 registered breeding animals in Germany, the Altsteirer chicken do not occupy a position in the top 10 of the most-breed large fowl chicken breeds in the 2020 breeding stock survey. In the german red list of farm animals the Altsteirer are categorised as “STRONGLY ENDANGERED". To my mind, over 1,200 breeding animals alone in Germany is quite save for now...
If you are interesed to get in contact with breeders of Altsteirer I ll give you the link to the special club of Altsteirer and Sulmtaler chicken breeders in Germany: https://sv-altsteirer-sulmtaler.de/
Watch out: The Altsteirer chicken can fly very well – that s why they would be very happy about a large chicken run. And I have heard that Altsteirer dont tend to be particularly trusting. If you have any additional information or know some stories about the Altsteirer Styrian Chicken breed, please write them down here. If you could confirm or negate the information about the flying, good quality meat or the character I would be also happy about to know.
I put together a YouTube Video with motion-pictures of this breed. Would be happy if you could give it a try:
