Owlbeard Chicken

     The Owlbeard, or the Uilebaard, is a very old, if not the oldest Dutch Chicken breed. It’s related to the Polish variety of chickens, and appeared in many paintings from Old Dutch Masters’ time.

     Owlbeards has absent or very tiny wattles, that are covered under their muffs and beards. They also have a very striking v-shaped comb, white earlobes, and slate-blue legs. The Owlbeard is a truly beautiful bird with a proud and upright stance, and hence it became highly prized in poultry shows. It comes in a wide array of color-varieties; from solid whites and blacks to cuckoo and spangled varieties. One of the most attractive color-varieties of the Owlbeard is the “moor’s head”, in which it carries a solid black ‘beard’ in contrast to its white body coloring.

     The Owlbeard is a healthy and hardy chicken, with excellent foraging abilities. Hens of this breed are good producers of white eggs indeed, but they don’t tend to go broody. The Owlbeard hen is expected to lay around 200 eggs per year. While, the cockerel can reach a good-sized table weight given the right rearing conditions. A bantam version is also available for the Owlbeard but it is even rarer than its large counterpart.