Brabanters and Spitzhaubens--The Differences PIC HEAVY!

[EweSheep]

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Well the description says beards and the pics showed no wattles...........makes me wonder where they are getting the wattled version from?

 

[amazondoc]

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Well the description says beards and the pics showed no wattles...........makes me wonder where they are getting the wattled version from?

Oh cmon. There should be no surprise that a hatchery ends up producing imperfect birds. It's just a matter of insufficient culling and overproduction.

 

[EweSheep]

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Well the description says beards and the pics showed no wattles...........makes me wonder where they are getting the wattled version from?

Oh cmon. There should be no surprise that a hatchery ends up producing imperfect birds. It's just a matter of insufficient culling and overproduction.

Duh me! I should have seen that but using that kind of pictures

 

[allen wranch]

There is no US standard for Brabanters or Spitzhaubens because they are not recognized by the American Poultry Association. Until they are, I would go by the European standards to improve the breed. That is what I have done for the last seven years with my Spitzhaubens, and am working on with my gold Brabanters. Once the APA recognizes them (which takes a lot of work and time) US standards may be established.

The only colors of Brabanters recognized in Europe are self black, white, blue laced, cuckoo, golden black half-moon spangled, silver black half-moon spangled, yellow white half-moon spangled, golden blue half-moon spangled and lavender. Cream Brabanters are not a Brabanter color I can find recognized or listed anywhere. Although beautiful, the creams sold by Ideal and others are not typical of the breed. Some breeders mix the cream with gold in the same pen and produce more of a hodgepodge of colors and characteristics. This is OK if you want eye candy, but doesn't help the breed.

The Brabanter information I have says "The head is the breed's most stricking standard feature. The birds have a full three-clump beard, with clear gaps between the throat's beard and the muffs. " There is no mention of wattles, although I have seen some small wattles on a few roos.

I also found information that around the year 1900, the breed was almost extinct so it was recreated by crossing with the Owl Beards. These were used frequently for the Brabanter's survival - and still are. No mention of was made of crossing the Brabanter with the Spitzhauben.

I don't know if I have helped any or just muddled things more, but if you are not showing your birds and there is no standard available locally, enjoy and go with the birds you like. I have my own breed called "Pigettes". They are a cross between an Ameraucana roo and a light Brahma hen named Miss Piggy. They have the body of a Brahma with feathered feet and the head of an Ameraucana with muffs and beards. They are huge and lay HUGE pinkish eggs.

Not the best picture, but these are a few of my gold Brabanters:

And Spitzhaubens

 

[amazondoc]

Hiya Carla --

I have heard speculation that cream brabanters may be the descendants of golds crossed with spitzes -- and given the tendency of the roos to have wattles, I wouldn't be all that surprised. Nonetheless, I like the contrast of the cream with the black spangles, so that's the color I've chosen to work with. Since NONE of the colors are APA recognized (yet), I figure they're all pretty much on the same playing field anyway!

I'd love it if you'd show more pics of your golds!

 

[amazondoc]

Hey Carla --

Isn't this one of your gold roos? He's got clear wattles on him --

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7305029@N04/2359343782/

 

[becky3086]

Very good information here. I did not know that about the cream brabanters, I like that color too. I am so glad this thread got started before I got brabanters, I have learned a lot and that really is the whole point, whether we agree with each other or not.

 

[EweSheep]

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Sorry it is not Carla's birds LOL! This looks like a Washington state location. Carla lives in TX.

Pretty roo and yes he did a bit of wattles but not as huge as the first website.

Thanks Carla for your imput and I would love to see more of your Brabanters! Now lets see.............how about some hatching eggs next year?

 

[amazondoc]

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Hmmmm. This gets so confusing. That pic is from a "Big W Ranch", with brabanters and spitzhaubens amongst others....I guess there's more "W Ranch" names out there than you might think!

 

[amazondoc]

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Speaking of huge wattles.....if you want to see some huge wattles on both gold and cream brabanters, look here:

http://www.nantahala-farm.com/chicken-brabanter-s.shtml

That's where I bought my first brabanters from -- before I knew any better. I selected out youngsters that were much better than those pictured, but obviously that lady doesn't care much about the standard! Unfortunately, my first batch of chickens were all killed by one of my own dogs.