New to Raising Chickens but REALLY Excited for This New Adventure!

Patinas said:

Wow you do know chickens! Just curious why you picked black Penedesencas to focus on? I get the rarity thing but there must have been other reasons?

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It is much more than the rarity. With all those breeds, I had a very colorful egg basket. I had Welsummers for a very dark egg and loved them so much I decided to find other dark egg layers. I discovered the other breeds that laid a dark egg were Marans, some lines of Barnevelders and Langshans and Penedesencas. Lots of people have Marans so I wanted something different. Since I have a closed flock, hatching a lot and eating all the extra males, the fact that the Blacks were dual purpose, that seemed like a fit for me.
It took me 2 years to find my foundation stock.
Besides the rarity, they and Empordanesas are the only breeds in the world with a white earlobe and lay a brown egg. Only breeds with a carnation comb.
The blacks are famous in Spain for the quality of the meat, similar to the raves that Bresse get in France.
So much so that they have a festival the last weekend before Christmas where people flock from all over Europe to Catalonia for the Fira del Gall (fair of the rooster), a foodie fest where the Black Penedesenca is the star of the show. People pay $50 for a live rooster that is processed for them on the spot to be their Christmas dinner.
My chickens aren't pets so I don't need a lap pet. These guys are extremely wary of anything not chicken. They run like the wind and are extremely predator proof during the day. I've seen a rooster take a hawk out of the air after sending the hens for cover.
I open the buildings in the morning and don't worry about them till dusk.
They prefer to run than fly so I can keep them inside very short fencing. I've kept flocks of roosters inside a 2' fence. They're more likely to go under than over.
Did I say I love this breed/variety?
lkl

ChickenCanoe said:

It is much more than the rarity. With all those breeds, I had a very colorful egg basket. I had Welsummers for a very dark egg and loved them so much I decided to find other dark egg layers. I discovered the other breeds that laid a dark egg were Marans, some lines of Barnevelders and Langshans and Penedesencas. Lots of people have Marans so I wanted something different. Since I have a closed flock, hatching a lot and eating all the extra males, the fact that the Blacks were dual purpose, that seemed like a fit for me.
It took me 2 years to find my foundation stock.
Besides the rarity, they and Empordanesas are the only breeds in the world with a white earlobe and lay a brown egg. Only breeds with a carnation comb.

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I have read that Penedesencas lay very dark brown eggs. The more I see my breeds grow, the more I appreciate them! At this time, out of my 4 Penedesencas, 3 are definitely hens and 1 is definitely a Roo. Now you have me feeling bad that I have to get rid of him! I call him Roo Boy. But, I do not want any Roos...and neither do my neighbors!

I have 2 Barnevelders and 3 Welsummers too. This is my first dive into chicken raising and I have like 8 different kinds. I am loving watching them grow up but purposefully not naming or attaching to any Roos that appear. But, Roo Boy is the exception so far!! He clearly is a Roo but I kinda like his personality but, unfortunately, he has to go.

ChickenCanoe said:

My chickens aren't pets so I don't need a lap pet. These guys are extremely wary of anything not chicken. They run like the wind and are extremely predator proof during the day. I've seen a rooster take a hawk out of the air after sending the hens for cover.
I open the buildings in the morning and don't worry about them till dusk.

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I have noticed that the Penedesencas I have are the least friendly. They don't even seem that curious about me and what I'm doing when I'm cleaning, feeding, watering them etc.

While I think of my hens as pets, it's not like I want them to be lap chickens. I rarely even pick any of them up. I just get a kick out of watching them being chickens! While several of them have personalities that are starting to stand out, the Penedesencas are, well..., rather boring! I'm sure they'll be much more fun to watch when they're able to free range in the yard.

Patinas said:

I have read that Penedesencas lay very dark brown eggs. The more I see my breeds grow, the more I appreciate them! At this time, out of my 4 Penedesencas, 3 are definitely hens and 1 is definitely a Roo. Now you have me feeling bad that I have to get rid of him! I call him Roo Boy. But, I do not want any Roos...and neither do my neighbors!

I have 2 Barnevelders and 3 Welsummers too. This is my first dive into chicken raising and I have like 8 different kinds. I am loving watching them grow up but purposefully not naming or attaching to any Roos that appear. But, Roo Boy is the exception so far!! He clearly is a Roo but I kinda like his personality but, unfortunately, he has to go.

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I don't know how close your neighbors are but barking dogs, trains, lawn mowers, weed eaters, motorcycles and boom boxes are all louder than roosters.
I asked my two closest neighbors if my roosters bothered them. Their response shocked me. They both said, "You have chickens?"

Patinas said:

I have noticed that the Penedesencas I have are the least friendly. They don't even seem that curious about me and what I'm doing when I'm cleaning, feeding, watering them etc.

While I think of my hens as pets, it's not like I want them to be lap chickens. I rarely even pick any of them up. I just get a kick out of watching them being chickens! While several of them have personalities that are starting to stand out, the Penedesencas are, well..., rather boring! I'm sure they'll be much more fun to watch when they're able to free range in the yard.

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Free ranging is where they shine. They're not fond of close confinement.

ChickenCanoe said:

I don't know how close your neighbors are but barking dogs, trains, lawn mowers, weed eaters, motorcycles and boom boxes are all louder than roosters.
I asked my two closest neighbors if my roosters bothered them. Their response shocked me. They both said, "You have chickens?"

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That's interesting! I have 2 distant neighbors approximately 2-3 blocks away and I can hear their roosters. Not when I'm inside but when outside. They don't crow a lot but I've also been around a rooster that crowed all day and even at 3AM although that one was kept in a small cage. I think due to being rural, sounds just carry much more. At this point Roo Boy is still with us and he's been silent so far and he acts more like a pullet than a roo. Doesn't seem aggressive or anything but just still not overly fond of the idea of having a rooster.

When I'm inside my house, I can't even hear my own roosters and sometimes I have 10 or more. However, I can hear the traffic, roofers, lawn mowers, etc.
I can even hear the train whistle that is about 3 miles away, but no roosters. I actually put a baby monitor in one of the coops cause I could never hear any mayhem.
This is semi rural. My side of the road has large parcels but my next door neighbor is only about 100 feet from two of my coops. The guy across the street is the other one that didn't know there were chickens here.