Cubalaya Chicken

     The Cubalaya is an extremely rare breed of Chickens, which originated in Cuba. It’s a gorgeous and popular show bird indeed, that was bred as a triple-purpose chicken breed, for meat, eggs and cockfighting. Cubalayas were initially developed by crossing European game fowls, and Asiatic fowls brought over from the Philippines.

     The Cubalaya is a medium-sized chicken breed with a pea comb, red earlobes, tiny wattles, and whitish-yellow legs. The most fascinating trait of this breed is the showy and beautiful appearance of the roosters. They have flowing hackle feathers and a long, well-spread tail carried about 20 degrees below the horizontal (known as ‘lobster tail’).

     Cubalayas are very active, good foragers, and very heat tolerant birds as well. The hens are also good layers of small tinted eggs (around 120 eggs per year) and tend to go broody. There are three main color-varieties for the Cubalaya; black, black-breasted red, and white. A bantam version is also available for this fascinating breed.