Augsburgers

An Augsburger cock
Photo courtesy of Owen Goodfellow

This Bavarian light breed is considered extremely rare. In 2000, there were only 24 Black males and 112 hens known -- the plumage of this variety is black with a greenish sheen throughout. The rarer color, Black-rimmed Blue, had only 4 cocks and 18 hens left. (In 2004, a population of this color was found in Mongolia, where it is thriving in several small villages -- a Russian farmer had imported 25 of these birds in 1972.) The breed originated near the city of Augsburg in around 1880 and was developed from French La Fleche and Italian Lamotte chickens.

The comb is somewhat like a Buttercup comb: after the first couple points it should split into two "single" combs. The result should look like a cup comb, but must be composed of two separate blades touching each other at the rear. Face, comb and wattles are bright red, and the ear lobes are smooth and white. Shanks and feet are slate gray.

Males weigh from 5 to 6 1/2 pounds and the females 4 1/2 to 5 1/2. They are white egg layers.