Thüringian Chicken

     The Thüringian is a Chicken breed, originated in the Thüringer forest region in Germany. They were first called Thüringer Barthuhner (literally means ‘the Thüringer bearded chicken’) and were bred as dual-purpose chickens. Nowadays Thüringians are mainly seen at poultry shows, and raised for consevation purposes.

     Thüringians have distinctive beards, almost absent earlobes and wattles, and slate-blue legs. They are thought to be related to the Dutch Owlbeard which they closely resemble but differ in having small single combs instead. Thüringians are active foragers, therefore they prefer to free-range most of the time. However, they will tolerate confinement if the run area is large enough. 

     Thüringian hens are fair layers of white eggs (140 – 180 eggs per year), but they rarely go broody. They are a fast-growing chicken breed and a very cold hardy one as well. The common color-varieties for the Thüringian are; black, silver-spangled, gold-spangled and chamois-spangled. A bantam version is also available for this fabulous breed.