Chicken Breed Focus - White Face Black Spanish

The White Faced Black Spanish is one of the oldest Mediterranean breeds developed in Spain (said to date back to the mid-1500's), though they were largely bred to their present type in Great britain in the eighteenth century. It is distributed throughout the world now, but is sadly rare in Spain.

They have glossy black plumage and are closely related to the Minorca and Castilian breeds. Their most distinguishing feature are their white, low hanging ear lobes, which are actually overdeveloped and gave them their name and nickname, "Clown-face Chicken". Set against the pure black plumage and the bright red wattles and comb, the Clown-faced Chicken surely does look like it's wearing clown makeup colours! They have a single comb, four toes, and no crest.

The White Faced Black Spanish chicken is available in both Bantam and Standard sizes. The only accepted color is the pure black with white faces and earlobes and bright, red comb & wattles. The shiny black plumage should have a green sheen and the shanks are dark tray. Breeders however did develop Blue and White varieties of the breed.

The full-sized, antique version was admitted to APA in 1874.

The breed is said be flighty, but personable. Hens are non-sitters and fairly good layers, producing 160–180 white eggs per year, with a weight of about 80g each.

Details:

Breed purpose: Layer
Comb: Single
Broodiness: Seldom
Climate tolerance: Tolerates heat well
Egg productivity: Medium
Eggshell Colour: White



Pair of WFBS, pic by @Sally Sunshine



Cockbird, pic by @anderson8505



Pair, pic by anderson8525



Bantam pullet, pic by @cluckcluckgoose



Hen, pic by @josh44



Juvenile, pic by @FarmGirl01



Pic by @HHandbasket

Breed reviews:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/white-faced-black-spanish

Breed discussion threads:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/527029/white-faced-black-spanish-enthusiasts-come-hither/0_30
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/882106/spanish-white-faced-black-white-and-blue/0_30

Do you own White Face Spanish? Are you a White Face Spanish breeder? If so, please reply to this thread with the your thoughts and experiences, including:

· What made you decide to get this breed?
· Do you own them for fun? Breeding? Some other purpose?
· What are your favorite characteristics about this breed?
· Post some pics of your birds; male/female, chicks, eggs, etc!

We have a bunch of other awesome breed-focus threads for you to enjoy. You can see all of them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-breed-focus-project.975504/

Cool looking birds, looking forward to hearing comments and seeing pictures from members that raise them.

I'm planning to get some of these beautiful birds myself soon and I would love to hear from some of their owners and breeders. I heard they can be quite flighty?

I think these birds are the coolest looking birds out there!! I have never kept them but of course they are now on my "Gotta Have" list.

Can't wait to see members pics of their birds!!

I've got a couple Blacks from McMurray (large commercial hatchery, so they are definitely pet quality) ... I adore them, they are very friendly, really good with the rest of the flock, REALLY good layers (the 4.5 year old is still laying 3-4 jumbo eggs a week right now) and they have laid most of the winter, for such good layers have had no health problems with them (no internal laying etc). We get fairly cold around here and have not had much problem with frostbite with them, they seem to be sensible about the weather. These Blacks are actually not very spooky/temperamental at all (they can fly very well however), very people oriented, they are very curious and tend to follow you around and do a lot of food begging...they do range quite a bit if given the chance, they are one of the few birds that do move from barn to different coop etc and you see them in all parts of the yard.
(I did have a few White cockerels from Sand Hill last year, they were definitely flightier than the McM Blacks, but not terrible.)
For some weird reason the McM Blacks also are very good with dogs, and the dogs are fond of them (may have something to do with the fact the dogs don't mind having breakfast laid for them every morning.)
The oldest ones egg from yesterday (got it before the dogs did) it weighs 78 grams.

@Kelsie2290 , they sound like great birds. Love the pictures of the girl in with the dog. Thanks for sharing something about them, I sure do like their looks.

Kelsie2290 said:

I've got a couple Blacks from McMurray (large commercial hatchery, so they are definitely pet quality) ... I adore them, they are very friendly, really good with the rest of the flock, REALLY good layers (the 4.5 year old is still laying 3-4 jumbo eggs a week right now) and they have laid most of the winter, for such good layers have had no health problems with them (no internal laying etc). We get fairly cold around here and have not had much problem with frostbite with them, they seem to be sensible about the weather. These Blacks are actually not very spooky/temperamental at all (they can fly very well however), very people oriented, they are very curious and tend to follow you around and do a lot of food begging...they do range quite a bit if given the chance, they are one of the few birds that do move from barn to different coop etc and you see them in all parts of the yard.
(I did have a few White cockerels from Sand Hill last year, they were definitely flightier than the McM Blacks, but not terrible.)
For some weird reason the McM Blacks also are very good with dogs, and the dogs are fond of them (may have something to do with the fact the dogs don't mind having breakfast laid for them every morning.)
The oldest ones egg from yesterday (got it before the dogs did) it weighs 78 grams.

Click to expand...

Aww....love the pics of the hen with the dog here. Adorable!

Im gonna want them. Vendettas! Gonna look what ar they weights.

I really wanted to raise this breed and ordered one from Murray Mcmurray with my order this past winter but ended up dying on the way 2 times

such beautiful and unique looking birds. thanks for sharing your photos and descriptions.