The Schweizer, german: Schweizerhuhn, italic=no or "Swiss chicken", is a Swiss

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 domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

. It was bred in 1905 in

Amriswil , neighboring_municipalities= Egnach, Erlen, Hefenhofen, Muolen (SG), Salmsach, Sommeri, Zihlschlacht-Sitterdorf , twintowns = Amriswil ( Low Alemannic: ''Amerschwiil'') is a town and a municipality in Arbon District in the canton of Thurga ...

, in the canton of

Thurgau Thurgau (; french: Thurgovie; it, Turgovia), anglicized as Thurgovia, more formally the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts and its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part ...

, in north-east Switzerland. It is kept mainly in German-speaking areas of the country. It is one of three Swiss chicken breeds, the others being the

Appenzeller Barthuhn The Appenzeller Barthuhn is a Swiss breed of bearded chicken originating in the historical Appenzell region of Switzerland. It is one of two chicken breeds from that area, the other being the Appenzeller Spitzhauben; the only other Swiss breed ...

and the

Appenzeller Spitzhauben The Appenzeller Spitzhauben is a Swiss breed of crested chicken originating in the historical Appenzell region of Switzerland. It is one of two chicken breeds from that area, the other being the Appenzeller Barthuhn; the only other Swiss breed ...

History

The Schweizer breed was created in 1905 by Alfred Weiss in

, in the canton of

, in north-east Switzerland. He

cross-bred A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

various chicken breeds, mainly white

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Ma ...

s and Wyandottes, to produce a good dual-purpose chicken. It shows some similarity to the Deutsches Reichshuhn, which was developed at about the same time. A

breed association Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members o ...

was formed in 1910, and a

breed standard In animal husbandry or animal fancy, a breed standard is a description of the characteristics of a hypothetical or ideal example of a breed. The description may include physical or morphological detail, genetic criteria, or criteria of athletic ...

was drawn up. The breed had a period of success between the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

s, but after the war the industrialisation of agriculture and the advent of imported hybrid layer breeds led to rapid decline in its numbers. By 1971 the breeders' club had only six members. In 1991, when no more than about fifty of the birds remained, a conservation programme for the breed was launched by

ProSpecieRara ProSpecieRara, the "Schweizerische Stiftung für die kulturhistorische und genetische Vielfalt von Pflanzen und Tieren" ("Swiss foundation for the cultural and genetic diversity of plants and animals"), is a non-profit charitable organization de ...

; a

flock-book A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry and the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breede ...

was established in 1993. The Schweizer Huhn was listed by the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

as "endangered" in 2007. It was added to the Swiss

Ark of Taste The Ark of Taste is an international catalogue of endangered heritage foods which is maintained by the global Slow Food movement. The Ark is designed to preserve at-risk foods that are sustainably produced, unique in taste, and part of a distinct ...

of the

Slow Food Foundation Slow Food is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and reg ...

in 2009. In 2010 a population of was reported to

DAD-IS DAD-IS is the acronym of the worldwide Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, within the FAO's management of animal genetic resources programme.Domestic Animal Diversity Infor ...

. In early 2023 the

conservation status The conservation status of a group of organisms (for instance, a species) indicates whether the group still exists and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future. Many factors are taken into account when assessing conservation ...

of the breed was reported as 'unknown'; according to ProSpecieRara, breed numbers were slowly increasing..

Characteristics

The Schweizer is entirely white, with a vivid red rose comb; red and white are the national colours of Switzerland. The comb is relatively resistant to frost damage, so the birds are well adapted to Swiss weather conditions. Cocks weigh and hens

Use

The Schweizer was developed as a dual-purpose chicken, to provide both eggs and meat. Hens lay about 120 or 170–200 tinted eggs per year, with a weight of or more.

References

{{reflist, refs= Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007)
List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources
annex t
''The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture''
Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. {{ISBN, 9789251057629. Archived 23 June 2020. Tiergenetische Ressourcen der Schweizer Landwirtschaft
(in German). Bern: Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft. Accessed January 2023. Breed data sheet: Schweizer Huhn/Switzerland
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed August 2014. Breed data sheet: Schweizer Huhn / Switzerland (Chicken)
Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed January 2022. Liste des races et variétés homologuée dans les pays EE (28.04.2013)
Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture. Archived 16 June 2013. .n.(2013)
Schweizerhuhn
(in German). ProSpecieRara Schweiz. Archived 24 September 2014.
(in German). ProSpecieRara Schweiz. Archived 21 January 2022. Arche des Geschmacks: Stand 2013
(in German). Slow Food CH. Archived 26 August 2014. Das Schweizerhuhn
(in German). Züchterverein für ursprüngliches Nutzgeflügel. Archived 28 April 2017. Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in Switzerland