Any Info on Penedesenca Chickens???

I don't have any of my own, but I am interested in acquiring them someday too - What I know is that they are a light breed from Spain, almost went extinct in the '80's. They one of the exceptions to the earlobe rule (chickens with red earlobes lay brown, chickens with white lay white) - for they have white earlobes, and lay almost black eggs when they begin laying. They come in Partridge, black, crele and Wheaten. That is all I know. Hope it helps! MW
 
SJCOLORWING had this to say about them:

"The breed is far from docile. The blacks are suppose to not be so bad. The blacks were developed dual purpose for meat- however the blacks do not lay as dark brown egg as the Pene egg layer varieties. The blacks may not be all that docile, but in comparison to the wheaton and partridge, the crele are suppose to be the worst at being wild. I have been following the breed for 4-5 years now. And usually they get out of them because of the flighty trait. Breeder told me he keeps them with baby turkeys and that works. Soooo???? you should know what you are going to have to deal with if that trait bothers you."
 
I have a few black Penes, 2 yearling hens,& 3 F and 2M four months old, they are the not small birds. My chickens are not pets unless they want to be and the Penes so far do not want to be pets. The eggs are dark brown(not black) and large to X lge. Personally I like them and intend on breeding them to this Standard. http://www.freewebs.com/penedesenca/penedesencastandard.htm#34741769

Not all of the Penedesencas have white earlobes , that has to be selected for. Also not all have the "kings comb" another thing that has to be selected for. This seems to be a breed where there are very few individuals and a limited gene pool. Not a breed for every one . If you want to call them flighty you can , mine don't go nuts but will avoid any contact. I have another breed that is really Flighty!

There are a number of Spanish pages on this breed and the Google translator comes in handy even if not perfect .

Hope this helps. Bill
 
I have one black penedesenca hen and she was my friendliest bird until recently. I'm not sure what happened but she used to follow me around the yard, let me pet her and greet me (begging for treats) whenever I came home, but now she stopped. I hardly know she's here. She is the only hen I have that didn't go broody this year so I love that! She lays a medium/dark brown egg and she has the kings comb and white ear lobes. She's not much smaller than my black orpingtons. I don't breed them because our winters are very cold and their combs would freeze.
 
I have some I started with this year. I like them.

I think there's a difference between docile and calm. Mine are docile but not calm. They are a flighty bird but I like that because I dare a daytime predator to get one. Flighty also makes them docile because they don't like to be associated with humans I've never been attacked by a Pene rooster (almost every other breed though).

My eggs are getting bigger, the lay rate is exceptional (around 90%), the color isn't as dark as I hoped but still dark. Similar to my darkest Welsummer eggs but a very consistent color and no speckling. I have one laying a plum egg.

Like Oldhound, I'm planning on using that standard plus info I found on a Catalan site. In addition to that info it specifies a minimum 1/3 of lobe white surrounded by red and two scicle feathers on tail at between 45 and 90 degrees from the back. With all that in mind I'll work on darker eggs and heavier bodies(I like to eat chicken) and they're flavor is renowned in Spain.
 
I have 2 wheaten and 2 partridge that hatched sometime today!!! I can't wait to see if I get any more! The eggs were shipped, and were too dark to candle! I had 2 doz total wheaten, partridge, and black copper marans, and 3 were cracked/exploded, and 2 I had to throw out due to bad smells. A few more I was able to candle well enough to see they weren't developing. 17 eggs were put in lockdown, guess I should know by tomorrow how many didn't make it! Today was day 21.
 
old thread but anywhere i can i like to add my 2 cents,
Penedesenca are flighty ( not aggressive though)
these birds are alert thanks to there flighty nature )

it makes them a great farm breed where one must worry about predators
 

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