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Castilian Black Hen: an elegant, egg-laying Spanish breed

Description of areas of the Black Castilian hen

Official pattern of the Black Castilian hen:

Picked up in the Book Genealogy of the race.

Breed belonging to the Official catalogue of Breeds of Cattle the Ministry of Agriculture.

Breed recognized by the Entente European EE (listed as a rare breed, for their length).

Recognized the use of the logo “native breed“Black Castilian.” This designation is granted for meat, eggs, and processed products derived from this breed.

The raza it is of mediterranean type, body conformation of light and of medium size; animals porte elegant, proud and strong, with plumage constituted by feathers, long, round, and tight.

Face: Red with white ear flaps (same for the rooster).
Crest: Fall to one side of the third tooth, without folds, or cover the eye, of an intense red color.
Chins: Red of good color.
Earlobes: Regular size white intense.
Peak: Medium and strong, and corneum.
Eyes: Large, alive, and with iris red, from orange to brown-red.
Neck: Long and slightly arched.
Trunk: Long, lifted and thrown back slightly.
Chest: Width.
Queue: Curved and almost at a right angle, without closing any further.
Wings: Big and tight.
Feathers: Black in color with iridescent blue-green sheen that is less pronounced than in the rooster; lacks the sickle-shaped markings, wattles, and cape.
Feet: Thin, naked, color dark slate.
Fingers: Four straight fingers (three pointing forward and one backward), dark slate-colored.
Nails: Can be black or white. This is not specified in the standard.
Rings: The diameter of the ring is 16 mm
Skin color White.
Sexual maturity: In less than six months.
Live weight From the chicken, 2.3 kg, and the polla, 1.8 kg, before turning one year old.
Egg: Are chalky white, of good size.
Qualities: It is light, dynamic, vigorous, and haughty; it has great range.

Character set: The Castilian hen is an excellent layer, producing between 150 and 200 eggs per year, with an average weight of 62 to 65 grams. The hens begin laying eggs at 150 days of age, and the eggs are chalk-white.

DEFECTS DISQUALIFYING

Feet and fingers: Another color that is not dark slate.

Tail too fall: “Tail of the squirrel” considered to be a defect in both the male as in the female.

Feathers: Gray, white, or any color other than black.

The Castilian breed has only one variety, which is the black one.

Black Castilian hen 1929

The Spanish hen with the most distinguished lineage. A great layer, rustic, active, and a good flyer. Produces very white eggs of a good size.

If it belonged to any other country instead of ours, the world would be overrun by it, but we hardly make use of it…

It is genuine neglect for everything Spanish. The English took it as the basis for creating their famous “Minorque” breed because they believe it to be descended from this Balearic breed.

Text published by Ramón J. Crespo in the 1929 *Encyclopedia Gráfica Avicultura*.

It was one of the earliest ancestral Castilian breeds, from which the breed was developed; from those early Castilians to our modern ones, the change in feather color (originally called “raven”) has been profound, resulting in the current color defined in the breed standard asblack in color with iridescent blue-green sheen, but the hen's appearance and shape are identical to those of today.

Championship Spain Sariñena 2018 Castilian hen 1st

Form cage 62 ring 7539 MB 95 Black Castilian hen 1st

Genetic Characterization:

Each breed of hens it has seven groups of morphological features that are specified:

The first gene is responsible for plumage color. In the case of the Black Castellana, the first allele is E (solid black), which results in black plumage in both adult roosters and hens; chicks are also born black, although in this case they have yellowish-white patches on their bellies.

In addition, there is another allele, specifically melanótico (MI), whose action reinforces the gene black, adding melanins (black pigments), especially in the area of the cape, or neck.

The remaining alleles found in the Castellana Negra breed are of the normal type, as is the case, for example, with the golden allele (s+).

With respect to the genes responsible for the shape of the crest is simple, in the case of the Spanish, the two alleles present are of a normal, one in each of the two “loci” responsible for this characteristic (p + year +).

The color of the legs is also due to the W+ allele, which interacts with the normal allele (id+) at another sex-linked locus responsible for melanin production in the dermis, resulting in a slate-blue pigmentation on the legs.

With regard to the coloration of the eyes, the allele responsible for causing a reddish-brown typical of the breed. The color of the eyes is due to complex interactions of alleles responsible for the synthesis of melanins and carotenoids, and is not definitive until it reaches sexual maturity.

Another racial trait found in the Castilian breed is the white color of the eggshell; this is not due to any major gene, as it is one of the quantitative traits found in poultry breeds.

The white color of the shell is caused by the lack of pigments derived from the porphyrin and tends to be dominant with respect to the brown color of the shell.

Finally, seventh on the list, the color of the ear flaps is also determined by the interaction of several alleles. In the case of the Castellana, the ear flaps are white due to the accumulation of purine-derived bases that mask the vascularization of the skin tissue typical of red ear flaps.

Championship Spain Sariñena 2018 Black Castilian hen 2nd

Form cage 68 ring 7534 MB 94 Black Castilian hen 2nd

That benefits gives us a Black Castilian hen apart from their eggs:

That benefits gives us a hen apart from their eggs

If you want to have a PDF photo in the link

That benefits gives us a Chicken

Convert 6 kilograms conversion of food waste into nutrients for eggs.

Clean our garden of insects. About 120 square meters per week.
Fertilize 50 square meters of garden in a month.
Evens out a lot of leaves in two days.
It eliminates the life cycle of bark pests on a fruit tree in one hour.
It produces enough manure (chicken manure) in a month to make one cubic meter of compost.
It helps to make a fourth part of the work, to spread a compost pile.

Well, this tireless Castilian hen—hardy, hardworking, and a producer of delicious, beautiful white eggs—deserves all our respect and admiration; that is why we must provide her with a balanced diet to supplement whatever she finds in our gardens, orchards, and so on, which is not enough to sustain her metabolism.

White eggs Black Castilian hen

Some videos of Castilian:

Chicks Castilian black, born April 20, 2023

They are beautiful 11 and in the progress of growth, right, with her three months. Accompanied by a sister nurse of January, to the habits, food, and hierarchy.

Castilian chicks with their siblings April 20, 2023

Black Castilian hen. The corral Jose, 2021

Castilian chicks with their siblings from 2023

The chickens are dewormed with this peculiar dirt bath.

Could not miss for all the children that there is, and that we have been, not to forget about those stories are so dearly loved from our childhood, and that we still remember even though it is not by reading, or so aware that we were listening to our grandparents, those wonderful stories, that made us shudder, and at the same time be so happy, it is a delight thanks to the story.

Of The Hen Black Grandma Butron

You may be interested in these other sections

Castilian Black Chicks: Initial Care

Broody hens: a step-by-step guide to natural incubation

Embryodiagnosis: analysis of unhatched eggs

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