White Faced Black Spanish Chicken

White-Faced-Black-Spanish-ChickenA chicken more highly valued for its ornamental properties than for its productive capacity, the White-Faced Black Spanish Chicken is common as an exhibition fowl.

The White-Faced Black Spanish Chicken, while not very productive today, was once quite popular in the Southern United States. They are large, noisy chickens that produce large, white eggs. Today, the White-Faced Black Spanish Chicken is valued primarily for its white face and not for its egg-laying capabilities. They are not broody, meaning that they do not tend to sit on their eggs until they hatch. A very energetic animal, the White-Faced Black Spanish is always active. Because White-Faced Black Spanish are so carefully bred for their white faces, the breed is quite inbred.

White-Faced-Black-Spanish-Chicken1A slightly larger than average chicken, White-Faced Black Spanish should weigh between 6.5 pounds (hens) and eight pounds (cocks). Their name is a reference to the white skin that surrounds their wattles and faces that is, in actuality, an oversized ear lobe. Except for this white skin, the plumage of the White-Faced Black is entirely black and they have red combs and wattles.

The White-Faced Black Spanish is considered one of the oldest breeds of Mediterranean fowl known to man. They came to the United States from the Caribbean, to which they had been exported from Spain. Their Spanish ancestry earned them the name “The Fowls of Seville.” During the Colonial period, they were very highly valued in the southern United States.

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