Penedesenca Chicken

     The Penedesenca is a rare Chicken breed that originated in the Spanish region of Catalonia. It was developed in the first half of the 20^th century from native barnyard chickens, in the area. The original black Penedesenca was almost extinct in the 1980’s, but luckily it was restored and other colors got developed as well.

     Penedesencas are noted for their dark brown eggs, which are among the darkest eggs in the poultry world. In their first year, pullets lay very dark eggs that are almost black. After the first-year, Penedesenca hens lay lighter eggs with a reddish-brown cast. They are fair layers (around 140 – 160 eggs per year), but they don’t usually go broody.

    Penedesencas have red earlobes with a white center, and unusual combs called the king’s comb or the carnation comb. Their comb is similar to the common single comb, but with several lobes at the rear. The original leg color is slate-dark, but brighter colors are common in the newly developed color-varieties. Penedesencas are good free-range chickens, and produce plenty of high quality meat.

     Black, crele, partridge and wheaten are the standardized color-varieties for the Penedesenca. Only the black color-variety is used as a dual-purpose chicken, and it’s slightly heavier. While, the other color-varieties have been developed for the purpose of egg production. The crele Penedesenca is an autosexing chicken, meaning that the sex of the chicks can be determined by their color at one-day old. Crele cockerels will be grey, while pullets will be brown.