13 Crested Chicken Breeds
Crested chickens are eye-catching, thanks to the cute tuft of feathers these chickens have on their heads. These chickens come in distinct colors and sizes, and there are some of the favorite chicken breeds for many chicken farmers.
They originate from Poland, Russia, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and China. Each crested chicken breed serves different purposes. Some crested chickens are suitable for eggs, while others are excellent layers. Nonetheless, most of these birds make wonderful ornamental birds. Here are the top 13 crested chickens you can consider raising in your backyard.
Sultan Chicken
The Sultan chicken is a rare crested breed that originates from Turkey. Sultan chickens have unique features, including puff crests, feathered feet, beards, five toes on every foot, and long tails. Most Sultan chickens are white, although some are blue and black varieties.
They weigh four pounds on average, although cockerels weigh 6 pounds. Sultan chickens adapt well to enclosed areas, courtesy of their docile nature. Sultan chickens are decent layers, and they require top-notch care. They have a calm temperament, making it easy to handle these birds.
Polish Chicken
This breed is among the most popular crested species today. Polish chickens are easily recognizable from their unique features, such as crested feathers covering their entire heads. They originate from the Netherlands, although they are reasonably widespread in other nations across the planet.
Polish hens have clean and tidy crests, while roosters have wild-proof and messy feathers. Moreover, roosters have red V-shaped combs, but their feet don’t have feathering, unlike those of hens. The colors of Polish chickens range from golden laced, white crested black, bluff laced, and black mottled.
These chickens aren’t dependable since they lay twice or thrice a week. They are suitable as exhibition birds. Polish chickens are friendly and make fantastic pets for kids. Polish roosters weigh around 6 lbs., while hens weigh approximately 4.5 lbs. They have a pleasant temperament, making them great for novice chicken raisers.
Silkie Chicken
This standard small crested breed hails from China. Silkie chickens come in various colors, including red, blue, white, gray, and black. Because Silkies are docile and friendly, they are pretty easy to tame. They are quite nice, especially with kids, explaining why they are common in zoos.
Although Silkies aren’t reliable egg producers, these crested chickens make up for that by being awesome brooders. Thus, you can breed Silkies with other chicken breeds that aren’t great egg-sitters. They have vision difficulties, thanks to their feathery and puffy crests.
Therefore, these crested birds require constant trimming. Most Silkies have beards, while others are non-bearded. They have feathers on their feet, so you must keep them in a clean coop.
Silkies are lightweight birds, with roosters weighing around 1.8 kg, while females weigh about 1.3 kg. Bantam male Silkies weigh about 600 grams, while their female counterparts weigh about 500 grams.
Appenzeller Chicken
This crested chicken breed is Switzerland’s national breed. It has a V-shaped comb and a distinct upright crest. Although the chicken is an ornamental bird, it is also a dependable layer because it can lay between 2 and 4 medium-sized white eggs per week.
Appenzeller chickens have diverse colors. Some chickens are blue spangled, while others are silver, gold, or black. These chickens are standard small to medium-sized birds. Appenzeller roosters weigh around 4.5 pounds, and Appenzeller hens weigh approximately 3.5 pounds. Appenzeller chickens love roosting on trees, and it adapts well to the outdoor environment.
Therefore, they are free-range birds and barely thrive in confined spaces. Thus, allowing these chickens to roam freely in your backyard would be best. Appenzeller chickens have a friendly temperament, making the birds capable of getting along with their owners and other fowl breeds.
Nonetheless, they aren’t aggressive, and keeping them together with aggressive birds can be disastrous. These chickens are hardy, and they can tolerate heat and cold.
Brabanter Chicken
The chicken breed is native to northern Europe, although it’s becoming widespread in other continents. It derives its name from the Brabanter area between the Netherlands and Belgium. Brabanter chickens come in various colors, including white, blue laced, gold spangled, cream, white, and silver spangled.
Brabanter chickens have V-shaped combs and forward-facing crests, making them some of the unique crested chickens on the planet. These chickens are also quite warm and affectionate with their owners. Brabanter chickens don’t take up too much of your backyard space since there are some of the smallest crested chickens—they weigh between 1.6 and 2.0 kg.
Brabanter chickens are rare and aren’t available in many hatcheries. They are cold-hardy chickens that adapt well to cold environments. Their wattles and combs protect them from frostbite.
Polverara Chicken
This chicken breed originates from Italy’s Polverara region. It is an ancient breed of crested chicken. Like the Brabanter chickens, Polverara chickens are excellent for ornamental purposes. The medium-sized birds have feathery crests that aren’t too messy, unlike those of other crested chickens. Moreover, their crests barely cover their eyes.
Their most distinctive physical features include V-shaped combs and white earlobes. Polverara Chickens come in two main colors- black and white. They have green legs, making these birds elegant and suitable for events and shows. There are many variations of these chickens due to constant crossbreeding.
Males weigh around 5 pounds, while hens weigh between 4 and 4.5 pounds. Although Polverara chickens are non-sitters, they lay a decent number of white eggs, averaging up to 150 yearly. These chickens boast a calm and friendly temperament and opt to live in open spaces because they don’t adapt to confinement.
Polverara chickens are wonderful birds for farmers looking for multi-purpose chicken breeds suitable for ornamental purposes and egg production.
Kosovo Longcrower Chicken
Kosovo Longcrower chickens are also known as Drenicas. These chickens are long crowning birds from Kosovo, as their names suggest. These chickens come in black, although they have a few red spots on their feathers. These birds have V-shaped combs hidden under their black feathers and crests.
Kosovo Longcrower roosters weigh between 2 and 3 kg, while hens weigh between 1.5 and 2 kg. Kosovo Longcrower chickens are pretty friendly, an attribute that enables them to get along with nearly all non-aggressive chicken breeds. Young hens from this breed can lay around 150 eggs annually, although their egg-production capabilities diminish significantly as they age.
Kosovo Longcrower chickens are also dual-purpose chickens that you can keep for a decent number of eggs and a reliable amount of meat. Also, Kosovo Longcrower chickens are great ornamental birds, making them a wonderful breed to feature in shows and events like crowning contests.
Burmese Chicken
Burmese chickens are bantam chickens that originate from Myanmar. These chickens have single combs and lightly crested heads. Burmese chickens also have three clump beards and high sets of tails. Burmese chickens have short legs with a feathery covering; therefore, these birds need to live in clean pens.
Because of their cool temperament, Burmese chickens are easy to tame and raise in your backyard. Although they are bantam chickens, they are pretty fertile and mature vigorously. They are small, with males weighing 570 grams and females weighing around 450 grams.
Although Burmese chickens can come in different colors and patterns, most of these chickens are usually black. Burmese chickens make excellent ornamental birds, courtesy of their small size and unique physical traits that make these crested birds stand out from other crested breeds.
Crevecoeur Chicken
Crevecoeur chickens originate from France. They aren’t common in other continents, although they are among France’s oldest and most popular crested chicken breeds. They are unique, thanks to their black feathering. These chickens are excellent for meat production, although females occasionally lay a good number of brown eggs.
They have a peaceful, calm, and manageable temperament. Crevecoeur chickens prefer living in sheltered spaces where they are safe from predators. They aren’t as hardy as most crested chickens and therefore need protection from tough weathered environments. Females weigh around 6.5 lbs., while males weigh approximately 8 lbs.
Houdan Chicken
Houdan chickens are dual-purpose birds that hail from France. They are fairly large birds, unlike most crested chicken breeds. Houdan chickens are also fast growers, making them terrific meat producers. These chickens have full crests on their heads. They have a black mottled color with distinct white spotting.
Some Houdan chickens also come in white and lavender. These chickens are awesome egg and meat producers, making them perfect birds for breeding. These chickens’ distinct features include five toes and butterfly-shaped combs. Houdan chickens also have clean legs and three clump beards.
Their multi-purpose natures make them excellent as backyard birds and ornamental birds. Males weigh between 2.5 and 3 kg, while hens weigh between 2 and 2.5 kg. Houdan chickens have a sweet and pleasant personality, making them great pets, particularly for kids.
These chickens are also very docile, making these crested chickens great show birds. They can adapt well to both confinement and free range.
Padovana Chicken
The Padovana chicken breed is a small, bearded, crested breed from Italy’s Padovana region. It comes in multiple color varieties: black, white, gold-laced, silver-laced, and buff-laced. The breed has white skin, while its legs can be black or slate-colored. Padovana chickens have no combs, while their wattles are vestigial.
Hens weigh between 3.3 and 4.4 lbs., while cockerels weigh between 4 and 5.1 lbs. Padovana chickens have a friendly temperament, making them quite docile and capable of adapting to human company. These chickens can coexist harmoniously with other chicken species, including delicate bantams.
However, avoid mixing your Padovana chickens with aggressive breeds since they can’t get along with such breeds due to their timid nature. Although they aren’t good meat producers, they occasionally lay light brown or cream eggs.
Because they are rare, it’s usually hard to find these birds in hatcheries. However, they are excellent ornamental birds, ideal for events and shows.
Ukrainian Crested Chicken
Ukrainian crested chickens are decorative birds that hail from Ukraine. These dual-purpose chickens have distinct crests that are too luxuriant, making them hang on one side other than remain in their normal positions. Hens have lush crests with oval outlines. They also have red earlobes and small wattles.
Overly, Ukrainian crested chickens are hardy birds with strong bodies. These ornamental and dual-purpose chickens are small-sized birds. Males weigh between 2.8 and 3.2 kg, while females weigh between 2.2 and 2.5 kg on average. These birds have a quiet and gentle temperament.
They adapt to confinement and rarely roam too far from their pens. Ukrainian crested hens are moderate layers because they can lay between 150 and 200 medium-sized eggs annually. Overly, Ukrainian crested chickens are beautiful birds and some of the nicest breeds to keep for egg production, meat production, and ornamental purposes.
Owlbeard Chicken
The Owlbeard chicken is one of the oldest crested breeds in the world. It hails from the Netherlands and has an almost similar appearance to the Polish crested chicken. This large ornamental chicken breed has a remarkably beautiful upright carriage. Owlbeard cockerels have striking V-shaped combs.
Owlbeard chickens have well-developed broad tail coverts, wattles, and well-curved sickle feathers. The breed has white earlobes and brown-red eye color. The Owlbeard chicken comes in various colors, including black-laced blue, white, black, yellow-white spangled, silver penciled, and silver spangled.
Owlbeard chickens have a pleasant temperament and a friendly personality that makes these birds capable of coexisting peacefully with various breeds. They are healthy and hardy and thrive in the free range rather than in confinement. They are good table birds and excellent layers.
Furthermore, these birds are great for poultry shows and events. Cockerels can weigh between 3.5 and 4.5 kg. Females are a bit lighter since they weigh between 2.5 and 3.5 kg on average. Overly, the Owlbeard chicken is a nice breed of crested chicken to raise for farmers seeking a friendly, intimate crested breed.
Conclusion
Crested chickens are wonderful chickens to raise, especially for those seeking to raise ornamental birds in their backyards. These birds make a cute addition to any fowl flock because of their elegant looks.
Furthermore, crested chickens come in all sizes and serve different purposes. For instance, some of the crested chickens you could be considering raising could be excellent for meat or egg production, while others could be great as ornamental birds.