The (, ) is an old 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 is a rare breed: in 2016 the recorded population in Germany consisted of 215 cocks and 979 hens, in the hands of 130 breeders. Its

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 ...

is , "endangered".

History

The Möwe derives from the traditional rural chickens of north-western Germany and north-eastern Holland, in

East Friesland East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the west of Landkreis Fries ...

and West Friesland respectively. It is closely related to the Westfälische Totleger and the Braekel.

Characteristics

It is kept in two colour varieties: silver-pencilled and gold-pencilled. Cocks weigh up to and hens up to Hens lay about 170 eggs per year, averaging in weight.

References

Ostfriesische Möwe

Ostfriesische Möwe
Chicken breeds originating in Germany Chicken breeds Animal breeds on the GEH Red List {{poultry-stub