Assendelfter Chicken

     The Assendelfter is a very rare ancient breed of Chickens, that originated in the Netherlands. It free-ranged in the bog lands for a long time, and it’s closely related to the Frisian chicken breed as well, but the later species is mainly different in having a higher-positioned tail, a narrower breast, and a slightly slendered body.

     The Assendelfter was quite popular as an egg layer, until the introduction of the Leghorn in its country of origin. At the moment, it remains only with several small breeders, that are dedicated to the breed’s continuance. The local associations for keeping heritage breeds are also playing an important role in protecting them from extinction are doing pretty well for maintaining the Assendelfter’s numbers.

     The Assendelfter has a rose comb, white earlobes, slate-blue legs and tolerant of most climates. It comes in three different color-varieties; citron, gold or silver penciled. The citron-penciled color-variety has been known among Assendelft breeders long ago, as a possibility results from crossing gold and silver color-varieties, or as a diluted golden-penciled offspring often hatch from their golden-penciled parents. Interestingly, Assendelfter hens have regular markings on their bodies, while the cocks are almost uniformly colored and have fan-like tail feathers.

    Assendelfter hens are good layers of creamy white eggs (around 180 eggs per year of weight 50 g per each), but they rarely go broody. A bantam version is also available for this breed despite being even rarer.