Spitzhaubens

[Metella]

Yes - now that was what I was asking for .... I have a single spitz chick in with 2 much bigger mixed chicks and she rules the brooder ! bopping all around and up her branch and pushing the others out of the prime dusting and scratching spots IT was just a fertility test hatch Now I hope they are all hens - of course.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Felt like my fingers were going to freeze off taking this pic, but had to document my crazy spitz who have been outside scratching around all day. Weather.com says it's 16 degrees but feels like 2 degrees w the wind chill. The spitz don't seem to care:

 

[Metella]

ha ha Lovely !

Yes - mine popped out as soon as I opened their door and clucked about - I opened my main coop and the chickens just looked at me and stayed inside for hours until a late afternoon foray to the bird feeder.

 

[Faraday40]

Felt like my fingers were going to freeze off taking this pic, but had to document my crazy spitz who have been outside scratching around all day. Weather.com says it's 16 degrees but feels like 2 degrees w the wind chill. The spitz don't seem to care:

I really, really like the way they look!
They make even a cold day look more beautiful.

 

[Alaskan]

Love the Spitz pictures!

 

[SD Bird Lady]

I'm new to spitzhaubens and was wondering if someone could answer a question for me...

I have 4 silver spangled chicks from a hatchery. Three have white wing/tail feathers coming in. The other one has very dark feathers starting in. Is this a quality issue or do the genders feather different or just a random observation? Any insight is welcome.

I can get pictures tomorrow if anyone is curious. TIA

 

[Alaskan]

Funny.....


But I can't remember from one year to the next. I have eggs in the incubator due to hatch in a week......

 

[Metella]

The white sounds like they are not going to be spotting in correctly - but always wait until the first molt to make sure on coloring - I'll post a pic of my month old chick so you can see her spotting - I say her because her tail is already taking on the fanning of a good hen ... so we all hope every chick is a hen basically

Pictures would help - you may say white but I may see something else

 

[Faraday40]

We had one that had white wings last year.
1 week

2-3 weeks





I was also hoping it was a way to tell gender, but she was just a lighter bird.
20 weeks


Here are the 2 pullets we kept over the summer. The lighter one on right was the white winged chick


Both were sweet girls, but we decided to keep the darker one b/c she had the nicer crest.





The darker one was "Spitzie" who sadly became a hawk's meal a few days before Christmas..
We're trying again this year. Instead of hatching shipped eggs & having multiple attempts with zero results, I just ordered some chicks this year.

My bad luck continues....
I ordered & pre-paid for 5 Spitzhaubens & 5 Spec. Sussex. The store had about 80-100 chicks all in one large bin & a sales clerk (using pics from the Cackle catalog) had to pick them out. They picked out a few EEs that they thought might be mine. No thank you! I could only find 3, so they probably gave my rare breed chicks to someone who ordered EEs or some other common chicks. Now at home, those 3 Spitz are chest bumping all my other chicks. UGH! Not a good sign. To make up for their error, the store ordered & will be giving me 3 more Spitzes when their next order comes in. That's in mid April, so it should be interesting.

I also worry that the SS pullets may no longer be the pullets I paid for, but rather straight run. If I wanted straight run, I could have found local eggs to hatch.

Ok, my venting is done. I'll post pics of my current spitz chicks later.

As far as the sexing, I could not even dare to guess until 4 weeks. I didn't truly know until 6 weeks.
Basically, you have to look carefully at the color of the wattles & area above the beak. Males will have a little pinkish-red while the females are colorless. If it's a hot day & they're young, you may get false positives, but at 6 weeks, those male wattles begin to drop.
5 wk male

6 wk male

10 wk male

 

[SD Bird Lady]

@Faraday40 thank you for the information. I haven't gotten a picture yet, but those you posted of chicks is almost identical to what I have going on (my babes are also from cackle). Good luck with your next shipment, I ordered 5 straight run, one was DOA so hopefully I have a decent mix and not 3 cockerels or four haha.

@Metella I will still post pics later as maybe a trained eye can give me some insight.