The () is a 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 more than 400 years old, and is a rare breed.
History
The Totleger derives from the traditional rural chickens of
Westphalia
Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...
, and was reared mainly in the area of the cities of
Bielefeld
Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...
and
Herford
Herford (; ) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is situated in the cultural region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) and the Detmold (administrat ...
. It is closely related to the
Ostfriesische Möwe
The (, ) is an old German breed of domestic chicken. 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 is , "endangered".
History
The MÃ ...
and to the
Braekel.
Although the German word means 'dead' and means 'layer' (of eggs), this is not the derivation of the name of the breed. The chickens were formerly known as 'Alltagsleger' or 'Dauerleger', meaning a daily or long-lasting layer of eggs. Under the influence of
Low German
Low German is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language variety, language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the northeastern Netherlands. The dialect of Plautdietsch is also spoken in the Russian Mennonite diaspora worldwide. "Low" ...
the name evolved into 'Daudtleijer', and later became 'Totleger'.
The Totleger was widespread until the arrival of more productive foreign breeds in the 1880s. By the time 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 1904, it had become largely an
exhibition breed. Numbers remained low throughout the twentieth century, reaching a low point in the 1980s.
In 2013 the recorded population consisted of 301 cocks and 1353 hens; in 2016 it had fallen to 176 cocks and 798 hens, in the hands of 112 breeders. It was the "endangered breed of the year" of the
in 1994, and in 2016 was classified as , 'gravely endangered'.
Characteristics
The Totleger is kept in two
colours
Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...
: gold-pencilled and silver-pencilled. Cock birds weigh and hens . The hens are
non-sitters; they lay some 180 eggs per year, of about in weight. Ring size is for hens and for cocks.
References
Chicken breeds
Chicken breeds originating in Germany
Animal breeds on the GEH Red List
{{bots, deny=Citation bot