Chicken Breed Focus - Appenzeller Spitzhauben

[Alaskan]

We must have swapped weather....

Up here we have cold and buckets of snow

 

[Faraday40]

Well, rather than attempt another hatch, I talked the manager of our local farm store into ordering 5 Spitzhaubens for me. (That way I don't have to order the min of 15 & also pay for shipping.) We really miss our Spitzie who was killed by a hawk recently. 2xs I ordered shipped eggs & got zero hatch. Then someone randomly picked up 6 eggs for me & all 6 hatched. (That's how we got Spitzie.)

My chicks will arrive March 8th. I can't wait!

 

[Alaskan]

Congrats and good luck!

 

[PhoredaBurds]

A couple colors I've been working on:

BBS

Silver blue spangled

 

[Faraday40]

WOW!

Beautiful!

 

[Alaskan]

Dang! Very nice!

 

[OKVet]

A couple colors I've been working on:



BBS



Silver blue spangled

Nice birds! I have seven, 5 pullets and 2 roosters. I am looking to unload one of the roosters if anyone is interested and close.

 

[OKVet]

I can't believe it! I just went out to do an egg check. I noticed a hawk take to the air as I was walking out & found my poor Spitzie ripped to pieces. It was a gigantic bird - like a red-tailed hawk - so I doubt there was much the roosters could do.

I'm so very sad & in shock. She was one of my fastest chickens, in good health, with great reflexes. Also, she was white to blend in with the snow. I know this is just nature & to be expected, but it doesn't help my feelings at the moment. After 2 failed hatches from 2 diff breeders (shipped eggs), I finally got eggs in February via a friend who drove by an Appenzeller Spitzhauben breeder on vacation. I was so excited to have all 6 hatch & after much deliberation, we decided to keep our sweet Spitzie as the new fancy, member of our flock. She was a gentle, quiet, easy-going girl who always loved to pose for the camera. (We have more pics of this pullet during her short life than any hen or rooster we've ever owned.)

RIP my dear Spitzie.







































While writing this, the kids came home from school. As you can probably tell, Spitzie was a favorite. Lots of tears today.

So sorry to hear the loss of your Spits roo to a hawk. It can be hard to deal with when you love each one of your birds.

 

[Faraday40]

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.

 

[Alaskan]

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.

Hummmm. It sure will be interesting to see how they turn out.