When you think of chickens, the image in your head is probably that of white-feathered birds with red combs. Well, you may be surprised to learn that there many types of chickens that look a lot different than that. These chickens have long and multicolored feathers over their bodies. If you’re curious about these birds, here are 16 breeds of chicken with crazy hair.
Many of the breeds look fairly similar to regular chickens when you look at their bodies. However, the hair on their heads looks markedly different from that of common chickens.
Also, in case you’re wondering, we used the word hair as a synonym for feathers.
Appenzeller Spitzhauben
Appenzeller Spitzhauben, commonly referred to as Spitzhaubens, is a European breed of chicken with funny-looking feathers on its head. This chicken is relatively small, and people commonly use it for egg production.
One of the most common Spitzhaubens is the Silver Spangled bird. It has a body full of white feathers and spangled black feathers over it. In addition to that, the chicken has an erect crest with black and white feathers.
The crest, along with its v-shaped comb, looks like a funny hairdo. The Spitzhauben cock weighs 4.5 lbs while the hen weighs 3.5 lbs.
Cochins
Unlike the Spitzhauben, Cochins are incredibly large chickens. They weigh anywhere between 7 and 9 lbs and have an abundance of feathers on their back and rear. The head and neck look quite similar to regular chickens.
This chicken with crazy hair originated in China, but you can now find them in various parts of the world, including America and England.
Cochins have a variety of different color patterns. These include White, Buff, Silver Laced, Partridge, Black, Brown, Golden Laced, Barred, and Blue.
Silkies
Silkies are a chick breed recognized by the American Poultry Organization. These chickens have fluffy feathers all over their bodies, including their heads.
To help you visualize them, these chickens look like cotton balls with a beak and claws. You won’t be able to see their eyes because of all their hair. These chickens have crests of ‘fur’ and beards that cover their heads and faces.
These birds have feathers of various colors such as Blue, Black, Red, Grey, Buff, Splash, Partridge, and most commonly, white.
These are domesticated birds with feathers like plumage. They are also relatively large chickens. A male Silkie weighs about 6 to 7 lbs, and the female weighs about 5 to 6 lbs.
Polish
Contrary to what it may seem, Polish chickens are not in fact from Poland. They got their name because the shape of their large, square, and feathery crests looked like the feathered caps Polish soldiers wore.
Their crest is not erect. Instead, their crests spread from the top to their sides, which can sometimes make it difficult to spot their eyes.
Polish chickens come in various colors, including white, golden, silver, golden, and buff laced. Male Polish chickens weigh approximately 6 lbs, and their female counterparts weigh about 4.5 lbs.
Onagadori
The Onagadori is a chicken breed that gets its name from a Japanese word. The meaning of this word is “long-tailed chicken,” which is precisely what this chicken with crazy hair has.
This relatively small and ancient chicken breed has various colored feathers over its body, long saddle, and tail. These colors include black-breasted silver, black-breasted red, white, and black-breasted golden.
Araucana
It may be difficult for you to find Araucanas in North America as they originate from Chile. These funny-looking chickens have ear tufts, which are feathers near the birds’ ears.
In addition to that, they don’t have tails because they don’t have their last vertebrae.
Araucanas should not be confused with another similarly-named chicken breed called Ameraucana chickens.
These birds come in colors like white, black, and lavender. The male chicken weighs about 6 to 7 lbs, and the female weighs about 5 to 6 lbs.
Crevecoeur
Crevecoeur chickens originate in France and have pitch-black feathers from head to tail. This chicken breed has a moderate-sized crest and beard.
The crest somewhat resembles a mohawk if you look at it from a certain angle. Another distinct feature a Crevecoeur has is its v-shaped comb.
This chicken with crazy hair has short legs despite its large size. The male weighs about 8 lbs, and the female weighs around 6.5lbs.
Houdan
The Houdan is yet another chicken with funny hair that originates from France. These birds have fluffy crests on their heads, with v-shaped combs too. Houdan chickens have white mottled feathers over dark black feathers.
Also, the color is consistent over their bodies and their crests. The male Houdan chicken weighs about 8 lbs, and the female weighs around 6.5lbs.
Pavlovskaya
Pavlovskaya chickens are one of the oldest chickens in Russia.
This feathery chicken’s most distinctive feature is its feathery feet. Polish chickens came from Pavlovskaya hens; therefore, these Russian chickens also have large feathery crests.
The feathers on their heads spread out in a similar way.
Thuringian
Thuringian chickens are an ancient chicken breed, originating from the Thuringian Forest in Germany. These chickens are known for their bushy (technically feathery) beards, and people have called them “chubby cheeks” because of that.
You can find these chickens in two popular colors: gold spangled and silver spangled. However, they also come in black, partridge, white, yellow, and more.
This breed is extremely rare, so you won’t find one with much ease. The standard male Thuringian chicken weighs between 4.5 and 5.5 lbs, and the standard female Thuringian chicken weighs between 3.5 and 4.5 lbs.
Sultan (Serai Taook)
The Sultan chicken, originally known as Serai Taook, originates in Turkey. These small chickens are cute and fuzzy, with light feathers on their crests, muffs, beards, and bodies.
They also have distinctive v-shaped combs. What makes these chickens stand out are their feathered shanks and toes. Sultan chickens come in just one color, with an all-white body and blue shanks and toes.
An average Sultan chicken weighs between 3.5 and 5 lbs.
Yokohama
The Yokohama chicken is not of Japanese origin, as the name would otherwise suggest. Instead, it is a German chicken, but it comes from the Japanese chicken breed Onagadori. As a result, this chicken with crazy hair looks very similar to its Japanese ancestor.
The Yokohama chicken also has a particularly long tail, which makes it look similar to many birds that can fly. These birds come in two varieties.
On the one hand, Yokohama chickens have plain white feathers, and on the other hand, they have red shoulders with white bodies.
These chickens are relatively small, weighing between 3.5 and 4.5 lbs.
Ayam Cemani
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Ayam Cemani chickens are all-black chickens from Indonesia.
These chickens have black feathers from head to tail, black combs, and black skin colors. However, you can also find some of these beautiful birds in a navy tint, but that’s rare.
Ayam Cemani chickens are generally valuable in some Asian countries where people eat them during ceremonial traditions.
Serema
The Ayam Serema chicken is arguably the smallest chicken breed in the world. This Malaysian chicken breed has long feathers on its tail and stands upright at about 6 inches.
Serema chickens are present in various parts of the world, so it doesn’t have specific, standard color patterns. Also, because these birds are small, the male chicken weighs between 1 and 1.25 lbs, and the female weighs between 0.5 and 0.75 lbs.
Sebright
A Sebright chicken has unique lace color patterns on its feathers along its short and prominent back. This chicken with crazy hair is most commonly found in silver and gold and is quite small compared to most other chickens. Thus, these chickens weigh between 1.2 and 1.4 lbs.
Phoenix
Phoenix breed is a result of Europeans trying to create long-tailed chickens from the Japanese Onagadori.
The Phoenix chicken has wide sickle feathers that measure anywhere between two and five feet in length. The feathers on the saddles of these chickens are between 12 and 18 inches.
Conclusion: Breeds of Chicken with Crazy Hair
For those of you who were under the impression that there were only a few breeds of chickens, you couldn’t be further from the truth. There are several other breeds in addition to the 16 breeds of chicken with crazy hair mentioned above.
Each of these birds is used for different purposes, and some are easier to find than others. This is because many chickens, like the Crevecoeur and others, are endangered and will move closer to extinction.
A national organization that protects endangered livestock called the Livestock Conservancy releases parameters for protecting these creatures.
By educating ourselves on the potential dangers certain breeds are in, we can take action to prevent them from becoming extinct. So, if you’re considering getting chickens for your farm, you may want to keep that in mind.
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