Spanish Chickens – Meet the White-Faced Black Spanish Chicken

You would think that Spanish Chickens, also called White-Faced Black Spanish chickens, can be found in their droves in Spain. However, they cannot. While this is a breed of chicken that certainly did originate in the country, nowadays, it is very rare there.

Instead, the largest population of the Spanish chickens can be found in the United Kingdom, and there is a very good reason for this too.

To understand that, we are going to need to look at the Spanish chicken in a bit more depth.

Black Spanish Chickens Facts at a Glance

Eggs	150 per year
Egg Color	Chalk-White shell
Use	Eggs, but considered primarily ornamental
Comb Type	Single comb type
Weight	Male: 8 lbs Female: 6.5 lbs
Temperament	Active and noisy
Foraging	Aggressive
Country of origin	Spain

Where Do White Faced Black Spanish Chicken Come From?

This is an old breed of chicken, so to be honest, we do not know that much about the history of the Spanish Chicken. As the name suggests, this is a breed that almost certainly originated from Spain, just like the more famous Andalusian chicken.

Since this is very old breed no one knows when this happened, but it was likely prior to the 1800s, as by the mid-1800s, this was a chicken that had started to appear in several chicken shows around the world.

What we do know, however, is that the bulk of the development of this breed did not take place in Spain at all.

Like many European chicken breeds, the chicken was shipped over to the United Kingdom at some point, and that is where the main development of the breed took place.

In fact, so much development happened in the UK that many still argue that the Spanish chicken is actually a British breed. We do not see it that way, however.

It was in the early 1800s that chicken shows that featured the Spanish chicken started to occur in the United Kingdom., A couple of decades after this, the breed managed to make its way to the United States.

This was one of the very first chickens to be on show in the country.

As we said; it is rare that you will find that this chicken is in Spain now. The country favors other breeds of chicken.

To be honest, if it was not taken to the United Kingdom by the British, then there is a strong chance that this breed would have died out a long time ago. You will see a little bit more as to why in a short while.

The Appearance of the Black Spanish Chicken

This chicken is completely black. It has a white face. It looks almost as if the chicken is wearing a little white mask, hence its name White-Faced Black Spanish Chicken

They will also have longer white earlobes than some other breeds.

Although, by all accounts, this appears to be something that many breeders are trying to work on reducing the size of as they are regarded as ‘oversized’.

This is a medium weight bird, with males capping out at 8 lbs., and females just a little bit less than this.

As a Show Chicken

Nowadays, the main use of the Spanish chicken is as a show chicken. You will likely find that most chicken shows feature Spanish chickens nowadays.

This probably isn’t a surprise. As we said earlier; this is a breed that is incredibly popular due to its looks. It was also one of the original show chickens. It is almost as if chicken shows are continuing the legacy of this bird.

Even if you do not plan on entering the Black Spanish chicken into chicken shows, you will be pleased to know that this is a bird that looks good.

This is probably why a lot of people end up picking up the Black Spanish chicken as an ornamental bird. It will look fabulous wandering around outside your property. Trust us on that one!

Raising the Spanish Chickens for Meat

To be honest, we doubt that there are that many people that are raising the Black Spanish chicken as a meat chicken breed. While it is of a decent size, there are better chickens to be raising if you want something for meat.

We believe that the only people that are seriously using this type of chicken for meat will be those show breeders. If they have a chicken that isn’t of a show quality, then this is probably the best way to dispatch it.

Now, don’t get us wrong. You could raise this as a meat bird if you want. However, since there are so many other chickens that grow faster than this, and have been built purely for meat, we believe that you would be better opting for one of those ones instead.

As an Egg Breed

This chicken lays surprisingly large eggs, and it can produce around 150 of them per year. This means that we believe that this would be a good breed for anybody that is looking to raise egg chickens.

It will lay them throughout the year i.e. the chicken will produce eggs throughout the winter months.

The problem is that the Black Spanish chicken is not an easy chicken to breed. It is a non-setter breed. This means that the chicken does not get broody.

If you are planning to breed these chickens, then you will need to bring a broody chicken into the mix. This is the only way to ensure that the young will be raised. A lot of eggs will not hatch if you do not have other chickens there.

Raising the Black Spanish Chicken

There are no health issues with this breed, which means that this is a chicken breed that shouldn’t be that difficult to raise. The main problem with the Black Spanish chicken is that it is not as hardy as most other chicken breeds.

This is probably not going to mean all that much to you if you are a backyard breeder, but you should probably be aware that it is more prone to illness.

This isn’t a health issue per se, it just means that nobody has really focused on developing this breed to be a hardy breed. It is more for show.

They are active and noisy chickens and are excellent foragers.

Other than this, just raise the Black Spanish chickens like you would any other breed of chicken, and you will end up with a chicken that has an awesome personality, coupled with being a good egg-layer. What more could you possibly want?