Chicken Breed Focus - Appenzeller Spitzhauben

[SunHwaKwon]

and quite stunning i have to say! seriously gorgeous !

He is a handsome boy.

It will be fun to watch him fill out as he grows.....

Thank you. I think so too. I like that he does not have too much white in his cape and saddle yet. I'm hoping it stays that way. Sometimes it ends up covering up a lot of the spangling. I think he might make some interesting looking babies with my other girls.

 

[Peach9610]

2 & 4 would be roos going by what the breeder told me yesterday re:mine. she said the long pointed tail is the give away. BUT 3 out of 4 of mine have that.....and the 4th for some reason she said was DEF a Roo and i don't know why she said that. SHE has NO talk to speak of and just now starting to come out. it looks like it will stick up. NO pink on the wattles yet but the others do and no red by the ears. the others do....do you see ANY pink anywhere on your birds yet?

 

[Peach9610]

One definitely has a red horn comb on top and I saw him sparring with another one in there for around his neck got all puffy.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

One definitely has a red horn comb on top and I saw him sparring with another one in there for around his neck got all puffy.

Girls will do that too, just so you know.

 

[Faraday40]

I finally got a few pictures of my boy yesterday when I was taking pictures of the birds I am selling. So far I really like him and I'm not too disappointed that he's a he. He's well behaved towards the rest of the flock and I caught him mating with my EE hen the other day and there was no abuse about it like there is with a lot of the other males I've had. He is 14 weeks old. View attachment 1027940

Wow! He's mating at only 14 weeks! I only had one male orp mate that early. In his case, there was a rooster vacuum & desperate older hens. He started crowing at 3 mo & we had fertile eggs by 3.5 months.

Your Spitz is a very pretty boy. Is he calm around you? Does he crow a lot? Mine is 13 weeks today. He goes crazy when I reach to pick him up. Fine while being held, but runs in terror if I reach out toward him. He'll cautiously take a treat from my hand. I probably won't be keeping mine, so I haven't worked with him. He's beautiful, though. I'm hoping someone will want a Spitz pair. Way too pretty to eat!

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Wow! He's mating at only 14 weeks! I only had one male orp mate that early. In his case, there was a rooster vacuum & desperate older hens. He started crowing at 3 mo & we had fertile eggs by 3.5 months.

Your Spitz is a very pretty boy. Is he calm around you? Does he crow a lot? Mine is 13 weeks today. He goes crazy when I reach to pick him up. Fine while being held, but runs in terror if I reach out toward him. He'll cautiously take a treat from my hand. I probably won't be keeping mine, so I haven't worked with him. He's beautiful, though. I'm hoping someone will want a Spitz pair. Way too pretty to eat!

I have only witnessed it (the mating) once. I have some bantam males from the same chick shipment and they are trying their best with the girls too, but they are a lot more aggressive and persistent, so much so that I put them out in the yard before i left for work Friday so they couldn't bother the girls in the run while I was at work. As far as his crowing, I want sure so I kept an eye on him while doing yard work today. He didn't crow until another boy started a crowing contest. He crowed three times then quit.
He isn't very approachable, but I don't try to handle or tame him. I don't really do lap chickens, though I will socialize those that seem to want it. He's not like that, but I didn't expect him to be since the breed was listed as a component of the"predator proof flock" package that cackle offers. I liked the look and that they would be good at free ranging and so far I haven't been disappointed.

 

[Faraday40]

Last year the only chicken to get eaten was my dear Spitzie. I was surprised because all of my waddling orps must look like giant chicken dinners to the hawks, but my agile spitz was eaten.

Spitzie was trained to land on our arm when called. She didn't like "snuggles" but was obviously friendly & intelligent. I still miss her & hope one of my current females will become more social.

 

[Chickens 4Ever]

Anyone know if she/he is a cockerel? I'm hoping a hen

 

[Peach9610]

Girls will do that too, just so you know.

Wow, didn't know. Thank you for your reply

 

[Faraday40]

Here are my 13 wk old spitzes

A close up of the male.