Chicken Breed Focus - Appenzeller Spitzhauben

[Faraday40]

"Interesting" is a good word. The store is newly opened & slightly closer to my house, so I placed my order there. They had no idea what they were doing. All 200+ special order chicks were running around together in a large bin - with a small sign that read not for sale. Next to it was a bin mixed with buff orps, cornish cross, & barred rocks for sale. When I went to pick up my chicks, they sent a young teen with a Cackle catalog in hand to use the pics to pick out my chicks. She handed me a chick with muffs..... No Thank you! I was able to find 3 of my 5 Spitzes. They put in an order for 3 more (one extra as an apology) because they probably gave away my Spitzes to another customer. I didn't like my chicks being on the sales floor. The manager said she put all the chicks in the same area because she was afraid they'd get forgotten if held in back.

I had also ordered 5 Speckled Sussex pullets. They had several chipmunk chicks running about. I made sure to get 5 with 3 stripes and no puffy cheeks & pea comb. Of course now I am beginning to wonder what I have. There are some subtle differences, but I think one may be a Welsummer or Brown Leghorn. If anyone has experience with them, let me know what you think.

The ? chick is on the left. (Unlike the rest.....Yellow belly does not go all the way up to beak, feet have a slight yellow color, & fluff color between stripes is very light)

 

[Alaskan]

Unfortunately the striped chicks are super similar.

I am not sure that their is a way to distinguish them until they are grown.

Maybe by leg color? Leghorns are supposed to have yellow legs...what color legs for Sussex and Welsummers?

 

[Faraday40]

I think Sussex have a white skin color while Welsummers and Leghorns have yellow. It usually takes a while for the skin to get its color, so I'll probably figure it out by feather development 1st. I wouldn't mind the variety of egg colors, so it's not a bad mystery to solve.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Here are my 3 spitz chicks. They're supposed to be silver appenzeller spitzhaubens, but they are so much lighter than the ones I hatched last year. These came from Cackle via the local Farm N Fleet store.

They borrowed a guitar from Barbie for this pic.

Wait... I thought you weren't able to get them because of the mixup!

 

[Faraday40]

Wait... I thought you weren't able to get them because of the mixup!

I got 3 but had ordered 5. The store ordered me another 3 (one extra as an apology chick). I'll get those in mid April.

They only sell the rare breeds as straight run, so I'm hoping for 1-2 females.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I got 3 but had ordered 5. The store ordered me another 3 (one extra as an apology chick). I'll get those in mid April.

They only sell the rare breeds as straight run, so I'm hoping for 1-2 females.

Oh, okay, I was confused! The three I have right now are SR. I'll try to get pics of them this afternoon. Two have a lot of black and the other not as much. I read on another thread about the males getting two bumps at the top of the beak so I need to check for that as well. A friend and I split six and figured we'd do some swapping if one ended up with all males and the other all females.

 

[brrabey]

Ok. I've got a 1yr old spitz that is showing us signs of going broody. She had a tricked yesterday... went to lay, had 6 eggs in the box already. It was 3pm and she was growling when we would peek in and was all fluffed up and serious. We got so excited! The other girls cooped themselves, fretting about her but she held her ground and stayed in the nest box (away from the coop as pictured) overnight! We thought... this is it!!!
She left the eggs around 10am... she's normally our early bird. I thought she was just getting food but she left them all day... finally returned to them at 5pm... laid another egg and went broody again. Over night again. Left again at 10 this morning... late for her she is out and not interested. She's back in there tonight!
Long story... but it's important that you know the details because I want to know what's going on!!! Is she practicing? Is this normal? What is she doing? Why? I know spitz aren't famous for going broody. Is it that she doesn't know how? Any tips or experiences are appreciated! I want to encourage her to broody and hatch me some baby spitz... it's a dream of mine.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Faraday40]

Ok. I've got a 1yr old spitz that is showing us signs of going broody. She had a tricked yesterday... went to lay, had 6 eggs in the box already. It was 3pm and she was growling when we would peek in and was all fluffed up and serious. We got so excited! The other girls cooped themselves, fretting about her but she held her ground and stayed in the nest box (away from the coop as pictured) overnight! We thought... this is it!!!
She left the eggs around 10am... she's normally our early bird. I thought she was just getting food but she left them all day... finally returned to them at 5pm... laid another egg and went broody again. Over night again. Left again at 10 this morning... late for her she is out and not interested. She's back in there tonight!
Long story... but it's important that you know the details because I want to know what's going on!!! Is she practicing? Is this normal? What is she doing? Why? I know spitz aren't famous for going broody. Is it that she doesn't know how? Any tips or experiences are appreciated! I want to encourage her to broody and hatch me some baby spitz... it's a dream of mine.
Thanks in advance!

I don't know if Spitz are supposed to be a broody breed. Of course neither is my Sebright & she hatched 3xs last year. Chickens can't read, so my Sebright went ahead & was a terrific mama.


Each one of my broody hens is different in her style, so there's not a right/wrong way as long as she hatches & cares for her chicks.
Two of my hens go through a period as you described. Basically they're "warming up" or thinking about going broody. I don't give my hens eggs at this stage. (Maybe some golf balls if I want to encourage it.) They are staying on the nest long enough to prevent eggs from freezing while they wait to accumulate more eggs. Yes they do the broody scream & puff up if you mess with their eggs, but mine actually get more intense when full broody. (They may begin to scream when I simply open the coop door & not even close to their nest.) Some hens peck to protect eggs, others don't mind at all & only scream.

After 3-10 days of their "fussy" pre-broody behavior, they begin to sit tight on the nest. Sometimes flat like a pancake; other times, fully fluffed out like a turkey. Only after they spend 2-3 days straight sitting on the fake eggs, do I bother giving a broody some real eggs. Hens can't count, so they'll just sit on them until they hatch. One hen I must pull off the nest every day or so to make her poop/drink/eat. (She'll actually poop in the nest & grow very thin if I don't.) The other 2, I can move into a "broody apartment" (dog crate) with food, water, & an area to poop. They're funny because when they see me, they hop off the nest & unload. It's extra stinky too. It's become the routine b/c they know that I remove it ASAP. So, they simply wait until they see me each day. Within 2 min after saying Good Morning, I am greeted by the strong odor of their giant gift.

One hen must "feel" a chick hatch under her in order to switch into the mother mode. I can slide additional chicks of the same age under her - but only during the first day while she's still waiting for eggs to hatch. Once she leaves the nest to teach her babies about life, she'll refuse any new chicks. My 2nd broody will also adopt chicks - but only during those 1st 1-4 days. After that, she'll attack new chicks as intruders. My 3rd broody will adopt any age chicks (when broody) at any moment. In fact, she'll try to collect all the chicks she sees regardless of age, size, or even if it belongs to another hen.

 

[brrabey]

I don't know if Spitz are supposed to be a broody breed. Of course neither is my Sebright & she hatched 3xs last year.  Chickens can't read, so my Sebright went ahead & was a terrific mama.


Each one of my broody hens is different in her style, so there's not a right/wrong way as long as she hatches & cares for her chicks.
Two of my hens go through a period as you described. Basically they're "warming up" or thinking about going broody.  I don't give my hens eggs at this stage.  (Maybe some golf balls if I want to encourage it.)  They are staying on the nest long enough to prevent eggs from freezing while they wait to accumulate more eggs.  Yes they do the broody scream & puff up if you mess with their eggs, but mine actually get more intense when full broody.  (They may begin to scream when I simply open the coop door & not even close to their nest.)  Some hens peck to protect eggs, others don't mind at all & only scream.

After 3-10 days of their "fussy" pre-broody behavior, they begin to sit tight on the nest.  Sometimes flat like a pancake; other times, fully fluffed out like a turkey.  Only after they spend 2-3 days straight sitting on the fake eggs, do I bother giving a broody some real eggs.  Hens can't count, so they'll just sit on them until they hatch.  One hen I must pull off the nest every day or so to make her poop/drink/eat.  (She'll actually poop in the nest & grow very thin if I don't.) The other 2, I can move into a "broody apartment" (dog crate) with food, water, & an area to poop.  They're funny because when they see me, they hop off the nest &  unload.  It's extra stinky too.  It's become the routine b/c they know that I remove it ASAP.  So, they simply wait until they see me each day.  Within 2 min after saying Good Morning, I am greeted by the strong odor of their giant gift.

One hen must "feel" a chick hatch under her in order to switch into the mother mode.  I can slide additional chicks of the same age under her - but only during the first day while she's still waiting for eggs to hatch.  Once she leaves the nest to teach her babies about life, she'll refuse any new chicks.  My 2nd broody will also adopt chicks - but only during those 1st 1-4 days.  After that, she'll attack new chicks as intruders.  My 3rd broody will adopt any age chicks (when broody) at any moment.  In fact, she'll try to collect all the chicks she sees regardless of age, size, or even if it belongs to another hen.

Ok! So maybe she is warming up to commit to going broody officially. She's been in the nest box again today since 4pm and is spending the night there. I'm hopeful! This is sounding like a warm up!!! And I'm excited!
Thanks for all the info! So helpful!

 

[Faraday40]

Some one at our zoo told me that a bird must hit her egg load in order to fully commit to going broody. He had a silkie that needed exactly 6 eggs. Once that was reached BOOM, she was full broody in 24 hrs. He told me if I wanted a broody to leave a bunch of eggs in the nest & if a hen is prone to go broody, she'll see it as an invitation. I rarely "want" a broody, but if I decide to let one hatch some eggs, I always make sure she's serious before giving her real eggs. Also, it's best to give her the fertile eggs all at once & mark them with a sharpie marker (pencil rubs off). If you add more eggs later (or another hens adds to her clutch), you'll get a staggered hatch. That's bad because the poor hen must decide whether to care for the hatched chicks & abandon the eggs OR sit on the unhatched eggs & let the chicks starve.