Chicken Breed Focus - Appenzeller Spitzhauben

[brrabey]

Growing so fast! They are 2 1/2 wks old and the things the mama has them doing is pretty crazy compared to how we people treat them in a brooder. Out in the rain yesterday! I never!! I kept trying to call them into the coop but she wouldn't listen.
They are getting their little crests and have already graduated from the brooder to the coop!

 

[Faraday40]

Growing so fast! They are 2 1/2 wks old and the things the mama has them doing is pretty crazy compared to how we people treat them in a brooder. Out in the rain yesterday! I never!! I kept trying to call them into the coop but she wouldn't listen.
They are getting their little crests and have already graduated from the brooder to the coop!

It's great, isn't it!?!
My broody chicks seem to grow slower at 1st, but those scrappy little chicks learn so much! I love how they all run when Mama calls. I had a bunch of chicks hatch 1.5 weeks ago. My 1st time broody (Named "Oopsie"), hatched the 3 eggs she was given & then adopted about 2 dozen more. I had 3 Spitzes & a silkie from the Easter Hatch-a-long, plus 2 quail & a lav orp from 4-26's hatch already in the brooder. I put the broody inside the brooder with her chicks , the older chicks, & then slipped the incubator chicks under her as they hatched. She adopted ALL the chicks - including the older ones & the quail! She doesn't like it when people come & buy her chicks, but there are too many. Once the number is down to single digits, she'll be allowed to free range with them. For now, everyone sleeps in the big garage brooder then goes to the tractor for daily grass time. One of my preschool classes ended yesterday, so I got another 7 chicks. Oopsie called to them & they disappeared into her feathers.

Hatched March 5th
I kept one male (for now) & the female
My predictions at 4 weeks were correct. Here they are at almost 11 weeks.

Hatched April 15th

I believe the 1st 2 (marked blue & pink) are males & the 3rd (green) is a female. From hatch, I always felt pink was male. I think it's because the chicks with rounder head shapes with shorter wider beaks have always grown into males. I thought blue had a shot of being female, but the crest is so tall with long feather shafts. I guess I'll find out if I'm right in a few more weeks .

 

[Alaskan]

Interesting about the head shapes.....

 

[Faraday40]

Here's my sweet hen, "Oopsie." She's an exceptional broody!

Oopsie hatched a few eggs & then adopted all my incubator chicks as well. I already had a few older chicks & 2 quail in the big brooder when I added Oopsie. She immediately adopted them too. 21 total chicks tonight, but the number is gradually decreasing as they get sold. Wide age range from 5+ wks down to 2 weeks but they are all HERS.

I like how the 5+ week old Spitz pokes out her head from under mama's wing. Also all the little feet under her.

BTW- I sold the both the blue & pink marked Spitzes from the post above & only kept the green one. I may never know the gender of the blue one, but the pink spitz had little red wattles coming down, so I was correct about him.
View attachment 557430

 

[Alaskan]

I have a small set of Spitz growing out now...I think 3. I need to take another gander at them, see what I have sex wise.

 

[Faraday40]

At 4 weeks, there's no way to know for sure, but sometimes there's a tiny hint of pink or attitude. The pink one had red-pink wattles at 5 weeks while the other two had the same skin color as always.

When you go to examine yours, let me know if your "male guesses" have a slightly rounded head shape while the females have a very angular profile. See post #202 pics.

Below: This one, who turned out to be male, always had a wide bridge of his beak (or perhaps his beak was shorter, so it looked wider) He also had a more rounded face/head profile when compared to the others.

 

[Alaskan]

Huh.


I am now curious to take a good stare.

Right now I am in Anchorage. ..eldest is graduating high school tomorrow.

 

[Faraday40]

@Alaskan
Congrats! Hope everyone has a great day!

 

[brrabey]

I've got 4 healthy babies growing like crazy. 3 weeks old and they're acting all grown up. They thought last night they'd sleep on the roost but everyone ended up under mama anyway

 

[Alaskan]

Brrabey, super cute photos!