Penedesenca Chicken – Is This An Underrated Egg Layer?

If you love dark brown chicken eggs, then it is well known that the Penedesenca chicken is the breed that you want. Although, it is certainly not going to be an easy chicken to raise by any stretch of the imagination.

Let’s take a look at it together, shall we?

Penedesenca  chicken
Penedesenca chicken – Photo by meyerhatchery.com

Penedesenca Chicken Facts at a Glance

Eggs130-150 per year
Egg Shell Color Dark brown
Temperament Active and flighty
Recognized VarietyBlack,
Crele,
Partridge
Wheaten
UseEggs
Skin ColorWhite
Comb TypeCarnation
WeightMale: 5.5 lb. (2.5 kg)
Female: 4.5 lb. (2 kg)
Country of originSpain
ForagingAggressive
Penedesenca Chicken Breed Facts

The Origins of the Penedesenca Chicken

In the grand scheme of things, this is a chicken breed that is fairly new. It started to appear in the early 1900s. It was bred in Spain.

The reason why we ended up with the Penedesenca chicken is that chickens that laid dark brown eggs were at the risk of dying off.

So, some breeders decided to produce a breed that would stand the test of time. This is how we ended up with the Penedesenca.

That being said, this is still a breed of chicken that is rare. This is because it is only really suited to some locations around the world.

As a result, the beautiful dark brown eggs that this chicken produces can only really be found in Spain and other Mediterranean countries.

Do You Want Big Beautiful Eggs?

Then you must check this ORGANIC & NON-GMO feed. Our hens lay jumbo eggs now and they love this feed! You can check it right here on Amazon.

The Look of the Penedesenca Chicken

This is a beautiful bird. It has nice and thick feathers, even if they are not the most brightly colored in the world. This is a smaller bird in comparison to many other major egg-laying chickens.

The Penedesenca chicken is famed for the ‘Carnation’ chicken comb type that they have. Many people liken this comb as similar to that of a crown. At the front, it is a single comb.

However, as you reach the rear of the Carnation comb, it starts to split up a little bit, and you end up with this ‘crown-like’ effect.

The most common color for the Pendesenca chicken is partridge, but they have been officially recognized in several different colors, although they are going to be rarer to find due to the fact that this is a rare breed at the best of times.

They have bright red wattles and red earlobes of medium size.

As a Show Bird

This is a bird that is beautiful enough to show off. However, due to how difficult this bird can be to raise, and the fact that you can’t really raise it in many parts of the world, the number of shows will be kept to the absolute minimum.

This means that it is rare that you will find one in your local area. From what we can tell, the bulk of shows featuring the Penedesenca chicken seem to be happening on the south coast of Spain and pretty much nowhere else.

If you do live in a place with a warmer climate, then this is going to make a good ornamental breed of bird that can wander around your land. It helps that it is going to be fairly productive at the same time.

The Penedesenca Chicken Eggs

This is where this breed really does shine.

It is not going to be laying a huge number of eggs per year. You can expect to get around three per week. However, the chicken is going to lay some of the darkest brown eggs that you are ever likely to see.

So, if you love that sort of aesthetic, then this bird is probably going to be ideal for you.

The only real cause for concern when raising this chicken as an egg breed is the fact that it is not very good at dealing with changes in the temperature.

Even the slightest of temperature changes can slow down egg production drastically. It may even prevent them from producing eggs altogether which, of course, is not going to be a good thing!

If you are raising this chicken in order to breed it, then you will be pleased to know that the Penedesenca chicken is a good sitter of eggs. Although, many people will keep their breeding to the minimum.

This is because the Penedesenca chicken lays so few eggs that they want to get their hands on as many of them as they possibly can.

If you do raise this chicken for breeding, then you will be pleased to know that any excess chickens can be sold on for a decent amount of cash. This is because people are always on the lookout for a chicken that can lay dark brown eggs.

The Penedesenca Chicken as a Meat Chicken

This is a smaller breed of chicken. As a result, we do not really expect there to be that many people out there that are raising the Penedesenca chicken for meat.

It doesn’t even grow that fast. The only time that it will be raised for meat is if you have roosters that you are not planning to use for breeding, or hens that have outlived their usefulness on the egg production front.

Since this chicken is so expensive to purchase, nobody is going to be raising it purely as a meat bird.

However, they produce high-quality meat for an egg-laying breed.

Raising Penedesenca Chickens

As we have mentioned several times throughout this page, this is a chicken breed that is only going to work well in some environments.

If the place that you live is not hot the vast majority of the time, then do not get this bird. It does not cope with cold weather all that well. This is because it has a larger comb and the body is so small.

If there is a drastic change in the temperature, then it is likely that the Penedesenca chicken is going to stop being productive. In fact, there is even going to be the risk that they could die from pneumonia or other conditions.

You should also bear in mind that this is not a chicken that you will want to be getting if you are looking for something friendly towards humans.

While it is not an aggressive breed of chicken by any stretch of the imagination, it just doesn’t do that well alongside humans. It won’t attack you, but it probably won’t want you touching it or paying too much attention to it either.

At the end we want to point out that the Penedesenca chickens are extremely good foragers. This makes them perfect if you want to raise them as free-range chickens.

They will be able to find food on their own during the spring, summer and fall.

Scroll to Top