The Krüper is a German

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of creeper chicken. It originates in the former Dutchy of Berg, now the

Bergisches Land The Bergisches Land (, ''Berg Country'') is a low mountain range region within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, east of Rhine river, south of the Ruhr. The landscape is shaped by woods, meadows, rivers and creeks and contains over ...

in western Germany, and is one of three chicken breeds from that area, the others being the

Bergische Kräher The is a German breed of domestic chicken from the Bergisches Land, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is named for its unusually long crow, up to five times as long as that of other breeds, and belongs to the gro ...

and the Bergische Schlotterkamm. It belongs to the group of original European creeper breeds. The breed has normal-sized and bantam varieties.

History

The first description of the breed is found in the "Avium Natura" of

Conrad Gesner Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his tale ...

from 1555.http://www.krueperhuhn.com/ Website of the Sonderverein der Krüper- und Zwergkrüperzüchter von 1904 These chickens have often been found in the former Dutchy of Berg (now "Bergisches Land"), but also in

Westfalia Westfalia is the designation of various specially converted Volkswagen camper vans. It is named after Westfalia-Werke, the contractor that built the vans, which is headquartered in the town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück, located in the Westphalia region ...

and

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. After the near-extinction of the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

"Courtes-Pattes", this breed could be reconstructed by crossing local French chickens with krupers. The bantam variety, which also had become extinct, has been rebred by crossbreeding with German bantams.

Characteristics

The most typical feature of the Krüper is the reduced length of the legs, measuring 7-10 cm. The cock weights max. 2.25 kg, the hen 1.5-2.0 kg. The comb is single, the earlobes white and round. The body is long and cylindrical. The legs are slate grey. The eggs are white-coloured. The kruper is known in black, white, cuckoo, silver, gold and partridge. The bantams can be found in white and silver duckwing plumage. The silver and gold animals have a typical broad feather lacing called "Dobbelung", which only occurs in the three Berg chicken breeds. KrüperKükenMitEi

Occurrence

The Krüper belongs to the endangered German breeds. A census in Germany in 2013 resulted in a number of 288 hens and 79 cocks, including all varieties. In 2001 the breed was chosen to be "endangered breed of the year" by the

Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen The or GEH is a German national association for the conservation of historic and endangered domestic animal breeds. History The GEH was founded on 5 December 1981 in the Rottal, in Lower Bavaria in southern Germany. It has about 2100 memb ...

, in combination with the other Berg chicken breeds. Sperm of some cocks has therefore been cryo-conserved by the Bruno-Dürigen Institute as a genetic reserve.Flyer of the Bruno Dürigen Institute about Cryoconservation (in German)
accessed May 2019

Clubs

In Germany the ''Sonderverein der Krüper- und Zwergkrüperzüchter'' has been founded in 1904 in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

in order to organize the breeders. In the Netherlands the breed is represented by the breeders of the ''Nederlandse speciaalclub voor Duitse hoenderrassen'' (Dutch club for German chicken breeds).

References

External links

Website of the Nederlandse speciaalclub voor Duitse hoenderrassen
(Dutch club for German chicken breeds), accessed May 2019
Website of the Sonderverein der Krüper- und Zwergkrüperzüchter von 1904
(German Club of creeper breeders), accessed May 2019 {{Chicken breeds of Germany Chicken breeds Creeper chickens