Breed Profile: Appenzeller Spitzhauben Chicken
What Are Appenzeller Spitzhauben Chickens? Heritage Breed Swiss Poultry
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BREED: The German word Spitzhauben means pointed hoods and refers to the traditional ceremonial headdress of Appenzell women. The birds are known equally as Spitzhauben chickens and Appenzeller Spitzhauben chickens. In Appenzell, they are affectionately known as Tschüpperli or Gässeschnäpfli.
ORIGIN: Appenzell is in the mountainous northeast of Switzerland. Despite its Alpine terrain, it has a pastoral tradition going back to the twelfth century. It is thought that the breed was developed within Alpine convents many hundred years ago, perhaps as far back as the fifteenth century. The breed’s unusual comb and crest suggest influence from other early breeds from France (Crèvecœur and La Flèche) and the Netherlands (Brabanter).
History of Appenzeller Spitzhauben Chickens
Until recently, Spitzhauben chickens remained almost entirely in their native area. In 1935, some were shown at the national poultry exhibition, but recognition was short-lived. There were originally ten varieties, but many lines did not survive. By the fifties, the breed neared extinction.
Committed breeders kept the few remaining flocks alive until 1983, when Swiss livestock conservancy ProSpecieRara collaborated with enthusiasts to form a managed breeding effort. They hatched 230 chicks in that first year, from which they formed 19 breeding groups. This kicked off the revival of the population and its genetic diversity. Now seven varieties are thriving, and ProSpecieRara continues to promote four of them.
In 1953, German breeder Kurt Fischer imported and bred three varieties, promoting the breed in Germany and the Netherlands. Then, in 1978, imports started to Britain, where they are also bred and standardized.
In the late fifties, Dr. Albert McGraw in the U.S. received eggs from a German friend to start a foundation flock of the Silver Spangled line. Unfortunately, the small gene pool resulted in inbreeding, with many individuals becoming more vulnerable to disease and losing their distinctive traits. Some breeders crossed in Silver Polish chickens to broaden the gene pool, which helped improve vitality but did not restore their distinctive features.
More recently there have been further imports from Europe. In 2013, Greenfire Farms imported the offspring of a prize-winning Silver Spangled pair. Their bloodline fortified the limited gene pool and balanced out many of the defects found in American flocks. Further imports (2013–2019) from Switzerland strengthened genetic diversity and added new varieties to Greenfire Farms’ flock.
Heritage Breed Swiss Poultry with Rare and Unique Traits
CONSERVATION STATUS: Classified as “Watch” by the Livestock Conservancy. Although not yet recognized by the APA, standards based on the Swiss and British models are being developed. Switzerland recorded around 1000 breeding birds in 2010, and Germany around 1500 in 2021. There are also a few hundred in Britain and a small flock in Australia. Breeding goals are to retain resilience and hardiness, vitality, longevity, and laying performance, while striving for clean markings and the characteristic crest and comb.
BIODIVERSITY: An ancient and well-adapted breed with both strikingly unusual features and healthy survival traits. Due to the small population base and near extinction in the 1950s, individuals of the same variety tend to be closely related. Some Swiss breeders may have crossed in Braekel and Silver Spangled Hamburg chickens to avoid inbreeding.
Characteristics of Appenzeller Spitzhauben Chickens
DESCRIPTION: A small- to medium-sized, slender bird with a high, narrow crest that is angled forward, dark brown eyes, white earlobes, and a strong beak with prominent nostrils. A bantam version was created in the Netherlands in the 1980s.
VARIETIES: The most common coloring is the Silver Spangled, which is white with oval black feather tips. The Gold is a golden-red color, while the Gold Spangled has oval black feather tips. The Chamois Spangled is buff with white oval feather tips. There are also solid White, Black, and Blue varieties.
SKIN COLOR: White with blue or gray legs.
COMB: The bright-red, V-shaped comb consists of two round, unbranched horns. Females’ are small and often hidden by their crests. Appenzeller Spitzhauben chicks can be sexed from about eight weeks old: males can be identified by their larger comb and wattles.
POPULAR USE: Eggs.
EGG COLOR: White.
EGG SIZE: Medium; around 1.75 to 2 ounces (50 to 55 grams).
PRODUCTIVITY: 150 to 180 eggs throughout the year, including winter. Fertility is high and, with one rooster per ten hens, eggs can have around 90% viability. Hens may go broody and, if so, make excellent mothers.
WEIGHT: Adult hen 2.6 to 3.5 pounds (1.2 to 1.6 kilograms); rooster 3.3 to 4.5 pounds (1.5 to 2 kilograms).
Not Just Beautiful, but Hardy Too!
TEMPERAMENT: These birds are active, alert, curious, and highly independent. Some birds are flighty, depending on breeding strain, but are not usually aggressive toward humans. They need space to range, forage, and avoid larger or aggressive companions. They do not thrive in confinement. Roosters are attentive and protective toward their hens.
ADAPTABILITY: They live mainly through foraging, and are fast and agile climbers over rocky terrain, having adapted to life in the mountains. They fly well and prefer to roost in trees, even in winter, and must be trained to return to the coop when young. They tolerate both heat and severe cold, having small combs that resist frostbite. While naturally adapted to cold and snow, they acclimatize well to hot, humid climates.
Sources
- The Livestock Conservancy
- ProSpecieRara
- ZUN (Breeding club for original farm poultry)
- Greenfire Farms, Florida
- Schlumbohm, M. and Bramwell, K., University of Arkansas, via Heritage Poultry Conservancy
- Gfeller, S., et al., 2016. Genetic diversity of three local chicken breeds using high-density SNP data. Poster. Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science, Belfast.
- FAO Domestic Animal Diversity Information System
TAMSIN COOPER keeps chickens and goats on her smallholding in France, where she aspires to live as sustainably as possible. She follows the latest research on farm animal behavior and mentors on a chicken welfare Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).
Originally published in the December 2023/January 2024 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.