Origin: Silesia. Bred since ancient times, later bred all over Germany.

Overall Impressions: Slim, stylish but powerful form; back portion shorter than the front portion (approximately 3/5 front 2/5 rear); erect bearing; line of back slightly hollow; free station; all areas go together harmoniously; lively personality.

Breed Characteristics

Head: Oval, slightly curved; plainheaded.

Eyes: Orange to yellow; whites, white-headed, and monk-marked to have bull eyes. Eye cere dark to flesh-colored, according to feather color.

Beak: Rather long, not too strong; lies on the globe. Blue and red grizzles, black, blue bar and check, mealy, white with red bars, and the corresponding white-flighted colors to have a dark beak; silver bar and check to have a dark-horn colored beak; flesh-colored in yellow grizzle, white red, yellow as well as the corresponding colors in white-flighted and all monk-marked colors. White-headed have a flesh-colored upper mandible with the lower mandible following the corresponding feather color. Wattle flat and undeveloped.

Neck: Long. Large globe, forming a waist at its beginning. Largest at the upper globe giving the desired pear shape. Back of the neck slightly bowed; beak rests on the globe.

Breast: Not too wide; keel long.

Back: Long, the line of the back slightly hollow; shoulders well-curved but not too wide and not protruding.

Wing: Powerful. well-closed; forms a slightly bowed sloping line with the back; may not touch the ground.

Legs: Unfeathered; straight and free; not placed too wide apart; thighs completely visible.

Feathering: Well-developed; lies fiat.

Color Classes: Blue, red, and yellow grizzle; selfs in: black, red, yellow, white, blue barless, blue bar, silver, mealy, and cream bar, blue silver, red, and yellow check, white with red or yellow bars. Schalaster in: black, blue, red, and yellow. White-headed in: black, red, and yellow with or without white bars. Blue with black or white bars, blue barless, blue check, silver, silver check. White barred in: black, blue, red, and yellow. Monk-marked and white-flighted in: black, blue bar, red, yellow, and blue, silver, red, and yellow check.

Color and Markings:
Blue Grizzle - Entire body a delicate, silverish blue-grey (not white on the belly and thighs); underfeathers to be dark to black/grey. Terminal tail bar and wing bars to be black; flights as dark as possible. In the neck, the base and tip of the feathers are light, the middle of the feathers is dark. This dark middle section has a green shimmer which is weaker towards the tip. The tip displays the desired grizzling, which the inflated globe makes more visible. This happens because the stretching of the globe makes the darker section also visible, giving a striped or rippled effect. Head color same as body color.
Red or Yellow Grizzle - A very weak toned underfeathering makes the head and body cream-colored, the shield whitish. Wing bars are an intense red or yellow and well separated; the outer part of the flight feathers appears white while the inner part shows some pigment; tail, light without a terminal bar; in the neck feathering, from the base of the feathers to 3/5 of the length, the color is white. The remaining 2/5 is a red or yellow patch of color bordered by white which displays a light green iridescence. This colored patch is scarcely visible when the globe is deflated but an inflated globe shows these colored patches as a well distributed speckling.
Selfs - Even color and a colored back are required. In blues, shades from dark to light to very light blue are permissible. Bars are prominent, continuous, 6 to 7 mm wide, and cleanly (properly) colored.
Schalaster - The wings are white with the "shoulder-heart" and remaining feathering colored; a small amount of white feathering in the thighs is permissible.
White-headed - White head marking is as straight a line as possible from the corner of the beak through the eyes or at the bottom of the eyes continuing in a straight line to the back of the head. The remainder of the feathering is lustrous. Even color in blues; bars distinct and continuous and cleanly colored.
Monk-marked - Head is white, cutting a few millimeters under the eyes and continuing in a straight line to the back of the head. Also white are 6 to 9 flights. Remaining feathering to be rich in color; even colored blue. A small amount of white in the vent and thighs is permissible.
White-flighted - Same as monk-marked but with a colored head.

Areas to be Evaluated and Rated: Overall impression - Body, form, and bearing - Globe - Station - Color and marking - beak and eye color - (Because of its relatively recent [re]creation, the Schalaster is evaluated more leniently in figure properties).