Valdarnese Chicken

     The Valdarnese is a Chicken breed from the upper Valdarno, in Tuscany, in central Italy. It’s an excellent free-ranging chicken, which got developed in the 1950’s, by crossing many breeds, including the Leghorn. The Valdarnese isn’t related to the popular Valdarno, and has never gained much popularity. It’s also considered the only traditional Italian meat-type chicken breed, with a slaughter age of 120 days or more.

     The Valdarnese is a fully white chicken breed, with large single comb and wattles. It has bright-yellow legs, and creamy-white earlobes with some red veining. The Valdarnese is also characterized by having a poorly developed squirrel-shaped tail.

     Valdarnese hens lay a fair number of large white eggs (around 135 eggs per year of weight 58 – 70 g per each). They tend to go broody too, and make exceptional mothers. The Valdarnese’s meat is firm and tasty, and notably different from Broiler’s meat, which is usually produced by intensive farming methods.