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

[Patinas]

Penedesencas come in Black, Crele, Wheaten and Partridge. Yours must be Partridge. I raise Blacks exclusively but have had Partridge.
If a hatchery carries them at all, they usually only have one variety. That's probably why they were just labeled with the breed.
Only one hatchery carries Blacks and theirs aren't perfect. No attention to earlobe color, comb and I've been told some have 5 toes.
In case you want to read up on them.
http://www.penedesencausa.com/
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Penes/BRKPenes.html

Thanks! Yes, mine are most likely partridge. I bought them at a local feed store so pretty sure they aren't anything fancy or rare. They were a straight run batch and I pretty sure at least one of them is a cockerel. His comb is already coming in at only 4 weeks old while the others don't have one yet. Any idea why they would sell those as SR while they sell all the other chick varieties as sexed? Is it hard to sex Penedesencas when they're young?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks! Yes, mine are most likely partridge. I bought them at a local feed store so pretty sure they aren't anything fancy or rare. They were a straight run batch and I pretty sure at least one of them is a cockerel. His comb is already coming in at only 4 weeks old while the others don't have one yet. Any idea why they would sell those as SR while they sell all the other chick varieties as sexed? Is it hard to sex Penedesencas when they're young?

Penedesencas are extremely rare and I'm surprised that they were at a feed store. They got them from one of the major hatcheries.
No idea about the SR vs. sexed. Perhaps they just chose not to sex them. Perhaps, since they are so rare, selling them SR may encourage people to breed them.
There aren't really very many flocks of any of the varieties in the US, or the world for that matter.
There may only be about 10 or so breeders of most of the varieties of these and Empordanesas.
Emps may only have 3 breeders in the US.
It is likely I've been the largest breeder of blacks for the last several years.
By 4 weeks they should be easy to differentiate the boys from girls.
The cockerels combs really blow up by then. The boys also have thicker and longer legs by then.

If you read the history and description in the Penedesenca USA website, you'll see they are both rare and fancy.
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 and not to mention - one of the darkest eggs in the world.

 

[Patinas]

Penedesencas are extremely rare and I'm surprised that they were at a feed store. They got them from one of the major hatcheries.

Ok, I did not realize that they were rare. I have 4 of them currently. I went on google to find pics of Penedesenca chicks and the strange thing is, almost none of them look like the ones I bought. Here is one photo I found that looks the most like the chicks did when I bought them. Tomorrow, I'll take a pic of one or two of them and post it.

I've highlighted the "V" shape on the head of the pic below. They all have the distinct "V". Maybe they aren't Penedesencas? Seems weird to me the store would have mislabeled them.

 

[mswforu]

Funny, I second guess eating chicken too! But if you watch on YouTube how the chicken you eat comes to your table- you won't eat it for awhile!!!
I laugh because I was going to start with a couple chickens and ended up with 13 chicks who are now 5 weeks. Now I want another coop and silkies! I can't figure out why it is so addicting! Maybe it's because we can get instant gratification by getting what we want at a small cost. I'm sure if I reach 50- I'll be wondering if I need therapy!!

 

[Patinas]

Funny, I second guess eating chicken too! But if you watch on YouTube how the chicken you eat comes to your table- you won't eat it for awhile!!!
I laugh because I was going to start with a couple chickens and ended up with 13 chicks who are now 5 weeks. Now I want another coop and silkies! I can't figure out why it is so addicting! Maybe it's because we can get instant gratification by getting what we want at a small cost. I'm sure if I reach 50- I'll be wondering if I need therapy!!

Well, I did recently watch some videos on YouTube about the chickens I've been eating all my life. Terrible! Just as terrible are how egg layers live but, now that I'm actually raising my own for eggs, not meat, it just suddenly seems like eating them is not possible! They already have personalities and I'm naming them and I can't eat anything I've named! I'm sure over time I can go back to eating anonymous chicken but not quite there yet.

I think my chicken fascination comes from my love of nature photography with a special interest in photographing birds. I originally thought I'd start with 12 but right now I have 21! I also have a good friend that has chickens but we don't get to visit much due to distance but last time I visited her, she had 13 chickens and I found myself wanting to hang outside with the chickens while we visited. The chickens were hilarious to watch and one laid an egg while I was there and when I retrieved it out of the nesting box and it was still warm, I was hooked!

Clearly I'm not going to make a living off this but I'm pretty sure I'm going to live longer just wanting to take care of my girls!

 

[mswforu]

I'm already hooked- 13 babies at 5 weeks and making my husband now build a bigger coop already and they are not even in the first one yet! Haha! I'm being proactive for more!
I'm with you- I can't eat what I name and take care of!!!
Even anonymous chicken dishes make me gag half way through it because it's all I can think about. Eh! Maybe I'll lose some weight!

 

[Patinas]

I'm already hooked- 13 babies at 5 weeks and making my husband now build a bigger coop already and they are not even in the first one yet! Haha! I'm being proactive for more!
I'm with you- I can't eat what I name and take care of!!!
Even anonymous chicken dishes make me gag half way through it because it's all I can think about. Eh! Maybe I'll lose some weight!

Ah Hah!! you have Chickenitis!! LOL

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Ok, I did not realize that they were rare. I have 4 of them currently. I went on google to find pics of Penedesenca chicks and the strange thing is, almost none of them look like the ones I bought. Here is one photo I found that looks the most like the chicks did when I bought them. Tomorrow, I'll take a pic of one or two of them and post it.

I've highlighted the "V" shape on the head of the pic below. They all have the distinct "V". Maybe they aren't Penedesencas? Seems weird to me the store would have mislabeled them.

If you look at the last picture on the Feathersite link I posted earlier, you'll see that partridge look like your chicks.
The chances of them being mislabeled as Penedesencas are virtually nil since no one knows what penedesencas are.

Well, I did recently watch some videos on YouTube about the chickens I've been eating all my life. Terrible! Just as terrible are how egg layers live but, now that I'm actually raising my own for eggs, not meat, it just suddenly seems like eating them is not possible! They already have personalities and I'm naming them and I can't eat anything I've named! I'm sure over time I can go back to eating anonymous chicken but not quite there yet.

I think my chicken fascination comes from my love of nature photography with a special interest in photographing birds. I originally thought I'd start with 12 but right now I have 21! I also have a good friend that has chickens but we don't get to visit much due to distance but last time I visited her, she had 13 chickens and I found myself wanting to hang outside with the chickens while we visited. The chickens were hilarious to watch and one laid an egg while I was there and when I retrieved it out of the nesting box and it was still warm, I was hooked!

Clearly I'm not going to make a living off this but I'm pretty sure I'm going to live longer just wanting to take care of my girls!

I grew up with a flock of 100 white leghorns for egg sales and the occasional group of 25 meat birds.
As an adult I thought I wanted 6 for the manure and eggs. I brought home 10. Three months later I had 100 of 17 different breeds.
I've had over 30 breeds and now I focus on one rare breed. It is all the time and space I have to do justice to. There are other breeds I would like but this is my all time favorite.
I don't name my birds because I know I'll end up eating plenty of them. But with them all being black, it would be hard to differentiate them. They get numbered legbands with a different color every year. I had a rooster with a crooked toe that I called Crook Toe, but he was really 'Orange 54'. My oldest rooster is 'Yellow 75' but I occasionally call him 'Old Guy'. That's as close as I get to naming.
I used to tell people that asked what their names were that they were called Bar-B-Que, Christmas dinner and Easter dinner.
I then took a bird to a vet and they wanted the patient's name. I just said, "Bar-B-Que". When the vet tech came out, she called, "Bar-B-Que".
The look on people's faces in the waiting room when I picked up a cage with a chicken and walked back was priceless.


All I hope to do is break even on cost.

 

[CuzChickens]

Hello, and welcome to our wonderful forum! I am so glad you joined Backyard Chickens, I hope you will make yourself at home here and enjoy it as much as I have!

~Cuz

 

[Patinas]

If you look at the last picture on the Feathersite link I posted earlier, you'll see that partridge look like your chicks.
The chances of them being mislabeled as Penedesencas are virtually nil since no one knows what penedesencas are.

I grew up with a flock of 100 white leghorns for egg sales and the occasional group of 25 meat birds.
As an adult I thought I wanted 6 for the manure and eggs. I brought home 10. Three months later I had 100 of 17 different breeds.
I've had over 30 breeds and now I focus on one rare breed. It is all the time and space I have to do justice to. There are other breeds I would like but this is my all time favorite.
I don't name my birds because I know I'll end up eating plenty of them. But with them all being black, it would be hard to differentiate them. They get numbered legbands with a different color every year. I had a rooster with a crooked toe that I called Crook Toe, but he was really 'Orange 54'. My oldest rooster is 'Yellow 75' but I occasionally call him 'Old Guy'. That's as close as I get to naming.
I used to tell people that asked what their names were that they were called Bar-B-Que, Christmas dinner and Easter dinner.
I then took a bird to a vet and they wanted the patient's name. I just said, "Bar-B-Que". When the vet tech came out, she called, "Bar-B-Que".
The look on people's faces in the waiting room when I picked up a cage with a chicken and walked back was priceless.


All I hope to do is break even on cost.

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?

As promised, here's some pics of my Pendesencas that I took today. I bought these on March 2nd and I believe they were 5-7 days old at the time. Can't see their stripes down their backs anymore because their wing feathers now cover them. I didn't get a pic of the Roo.