The () is an endangered German

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable 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 seve ...

of domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

. It originates from the area of the city of

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, in the Swabian region of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, in southern Germany. It was

bred A breed is a specific group of breedable 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 seve ...

in the nineteenth century, and derives mostly from the French

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most p ...

breed. It is the only chicken breed of Bavarian origin.

History

The Augsburger was created by Julius Meyer, of the small town of

Haunstetten Augsburg-Haunstetten, also known as Haunstetten-Siebenbrunn is one of the seventeen '' Planungsräume'' (English: Planning district, singular: Planungsraum) of Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest of the seventeen Planungsräume with an ar ...

, now part of the city of

, in the Swabian region of the

, in southern Germany. In 1870 or 1880, he

cross-bred A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. A domestic animal of unknown ancestry, where the breed status of only one parent or grandparent is known, may also be called a crossbreed though ...

birds of the French

breed, prized for the quality of its meat, with an Italian breed or type – now extinct – named Lamotta, which was a good layer of eggs. The aim was to create a dual-purpose chicken which would combine both qualities. The first written description of the Augsburger is that of Jean Bungartz in 1885. The Augsburger became popular, and spread to the area of

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

and as far as the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

. A

breeders' 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 ...

was formed in 1923 at

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a town in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's Central Germany (geography)#Geographical centre, geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen ...

, in the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

, but did not last long. Under the

National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...

régime the Augsburger was not officially recognised, and could not be exhibited at

poultry show A poultry show is a specific subset of a livestock show that involves the exhibition and competition of exhibition poultry, which may include chickens, domestic ducks, domestic geese, domestic guineafowl and domestic turkey. Domestic pigeon a ...

s. In 1938 a new breeders' association, the Sonderverein der Züchter des Augsburger Huhnes, was formed. From the 1960s the Augsburger began to suffer from competition from specialised high-productivity breeds, and its popularity waned. Today the Augsburger is a rare breed. It is listed in category I, "extremely endangered", on the

Rote Liste The , full name , is a red list of threatened breeds of domestic animal published annually by the Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung alter und gefährdeter Haustierrassen, the German national association for the conservation of historic and endangere ...

of 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 membe ...

. In 2005, 40 cocks and 164 hens were recorded; in 2009 there were 35 breeders with 64 cocks and 289 hens. A bantam Augsburger was recognised in 1975.

Characteristics

The Augsburger is well adapted to the climatic conditions of its area of origin, the

Bavarian Plateau The Alpine Foreland, less commonly called the Bavarian Foreland,Dickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, pp. 585-586. . Bavarian Plateau or Bavarian Alpine Foreland (), refers to a tria ...

. The usual plumage colouring is black, with greenish lights; after the

Re-unification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

in 1990, a new colour variant, blue-laced, was added to the standard. The Augsburger has an unusual cup-shaped or rose-

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

, similar to that of the

Siciliana The siciliana or siciliano (also known as sicilienne or ciciliano) is a musical style or genre often included as a movement within larger pieces of music starting in the Baroque music, Baroque period. It is in a slow Meter (music)#Compound mete ...

breed of Sicily, and quite unlike the v-shaped comb of the La Flèche breed. The earlobes are white.

Use

The Augsburger is a dual-purpose breed, with good meat qualities. Hens lay approximately 180 white

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s per year, which average in weight.

References

{{Chicken breeds of Germany Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in Germany Animal breeds on the GEH Red List