Chicken with black and white feathers is a beautiful, docile bird that makes an excellent pet. Although they are very friendly, chickens are not good pets for young children. They do not like to be picked up but enjoy being petted on their backs or sides. Chickens are beautiful and unique animals that make excellent pets or livestock. They can be tamed quite easily and are a good addition to any backyard which has enough space for them.
Chicken colors and patterns are unique ornaments that can be used as a home decor. Chicken is one of the more popular types of animals, they are easy to care for and are not as delicate as other pets. A lot of people try breeding chicken in their backyards without the proper information and give up midway that is why we have included the benefits of breeding chicken in this article as well as a list black and white chicken breeds with pictures.
Chicken Colors and Patterns
This is a very picture and video heavy page.
What are feather patterns in chickens?
Feather patterns in chickens are the distinctive markings made up of lacing, trimmings, lines, bars, or spots that appear on the feathers. The hundreds of years of selective breeding by chicken enthusiasts have resulted in the varied patterning of the feathers.
These patterns are arranged in a way that helps identify the breed.
Some patterns are exclusive to particular breeds; the Exchequer, for instance, is unique to leghorns.
Pattern of barred or barred feathers:
Black and white stripes on the feather make up the barred feather motif. The greatest examples feature the most uniform coloring and the same-thickness bars.
Beetle shine should be present on the black portion of barred feathers, and the colors and edges should be clearly defined.
Examples of barred breeds include the Dominique, Barred Rock, and Scots Grey.
Below: A barred rock hen, whose feathers have distinct, alternating black and white bars.
The sex-linked barring gene can be utilized to create hens that self-sex.
Single-laced or lacing-style feather pattern:
A uniform black, white, or blue line surrounds the entire outside of a colored feather in a single laced feather. White, blue, gold, and lemon are among the single lacing ground colors.
The design is nicer the more uniform the ground color and the black border across the feathers are.
The single laced feather with a white border, often known as a chamois, is most frequently found in Polish hens.
See the chamois polish below. The single lacing along the edge of the feather is white, with a brown base color.
Below: A gold laced Sebright hen with stunning single laced feathers.
Breed examples with a single laced feather pattern include gold laced Wyandotte, the blue laced Barnevelder, the silver laced Polish and the lemon Sebright.
Below: An example of a blue laced red Wyandotte where the black lacing on the feather border has been replaced with blue.
Hens show the lacing better than cockerels, the latter only has lacing on the chest feathers.
Double laced feathering:
The double laced feather pattern has a second line in addition to the coloured border of the feather.
Laced feathers feature thicker lines that will go all the way around the outside of the feather.
Below: The best known double laced chicken is probably the Barnevelder, here is a silver laced example.
I have been breeding double laced Barnevelders for years now and they are just stunning.
Breed example for the double laced feather pattern include the
Spangled feather pattern:
Spangled plumage is a completely white feather with a black stripe across the base and a black tip. Spangled and mottled are opposites of each other.
Below: Ideal spangled feathers from an old poultry book.
The ideal spangled feather pattern is a completely white feather with a triangular tip and clean black base to the feather. The more even the shape and colour the better and excessively large or small white tips are to be avoided.
Below: The spangled feather pattern on a hamburg.
Breeds with spangled feather pattern include the Spangled Hamburg.
Colombian feather pattern:
The Colombian feather design comprises a black ruff around the neck, a black tip to the tail, and black feather tips on both wings. The faint white line that borders the black neck and wing feathers helps to define the feathers.
The ideal Colombian has a broad, well-defined tail, a deep, even ruff, and well-defined wing tips.
Below: A excellent illustration of the Colombian feather design is the Light Sussex.
Below: When the Black in the Colombian feather pattern is replaced with Gray it is called Coronation.
Breed examples with the Colombian feather pattern include Light and Buff Sussex and the New Hampshire Red.
Crele Feather pattern:
Crele is a sex-related kind of barring.
Over a red breasted black bird, the Crele feather pattern has bars. True Crele has a base color of red with a black breast.
Even barred marking, the more distinctly defined the better, is the perfect Crele design. The darker bands are typically thicker than the lighter marks due to the Crele’s genetic makeup.
Below: A crele Pekin bantam showing the feather pattern clearly.
Breed examples of the Crele feather pattern include the Pekin, the Orpington and the Polish.
Cuckoo feathers:
Barred and Cuckoo seem to be similar at first glance but they are different. Cuckopo feathers do have the clear Zebra lines of the barred feather pattern.
Below: A close up video of the cuckoo feather pattern.
The difference between cuckoo and barred feather pattern is the definition in the colour borders. Barred feathered chickens have a crisp lines between the colour on the feathers and Cuckoo feathers appear much more smudged and are darker.
Below: A cuckoo Pekin. You can see the white lines are smudged into the black.
In both the barred and the Cuckoo feather pattern you can have one or two copies of the barring gene. Two copies of the gene means wider bars and a single copy means narrower bars across the feathers.
Breed examples of the cuckoo feather pattern include the Pekin, Marans, Silkie and Polish.
Mottled feathers:
Mottled feathers have a lustrous, greenish-black ground color with dramatic white V tips.
The feathers should be rich black with a beetle-green shine and be equally speckled with white at the tips of each feather.
The mottle is a black-feathered bird with a dark underside and evenly spaced white feathers, each of which has a white tip.
Below: The mottled feather pattern on an Ancona chicken.
Mottling changes with every moult and getting the best results require years of patient breeding. Other faults in mottling include smearing and streaking where the colour blends in or runs in some feathers.
Chicken With Black and White Feathers
Codominance: Black and white feathers are both dominant in some breeds of chickens, and heterozygous individuals have a checkerboard pattern of black and white feathers. What are the potential genotypes and phenotypes of a checkered chicken crossbred with a white-feathered chicken? Include a punnet square and the allele codes.
Types of Inheritance:
The genomic sequence of any organism, which is acquired through heredity, is responsible for the features that are observable in that organism. The kind of inheritance refers to how the inherited genome is expressed; it might be codominance, polygenic inheritance, or dominance.
Black Chicken Breeds
There are many options available if you wish to add one or more solid black hens to your flock. There are many of alternatives because many breeds have black feathers, and some even have black skin and meat!
In actuality, the American Poultry Association recognizes 46 different breeds of black chicken. This is fantastic news since it allows you to identify the breeds that will thrive in your backyard or on your farm because there are several benefits to owning a flock of chickens.
Raising Black Chickens: Which is best for your flock?
Black chickens come in a range of sizes, temperaments, and climatic toleration levels. They have combs in a variety of sizes and shapes that perform better (or worse) in certain conditions. Some have feathery legs, but the majority have smooth legs.
It’s wonderful to have different breeds if you have a small flock of four to eight hens for your own fresh eggs because you can get to know them as individuals. The simplest method to distinguish between them is to choose birds with varied feather colors, patterns, combs, and whether or not they have feathered feet.
Numerous members of this breed make great egg layers. You can get black hens that lay white, brown, or blue eggs, depending on the breed.
Due to the black pin feathers that are visible after plucking, black chickens are not often used as meat animals. Commercial meat birds are white because of this. When they see black pin feathers, those who are unfamiliar with chicken anatomy can assume the skin is unclean. However, those pin feathers can disappear if you merely sprinkle it with herbs before cooking.
Jersey Giant
The biggest breed of chicken is this one. When I first learned of this almost two decades ago, I believed they would make excellent meat chickens. However, they take a very long time to mature, and by the time they grow to that enormous size, the meat is not particularly soft.
The Jersey Giant hasn’t reached its ideal weight by that point and needs to be processed by 4-5 months of age if you wish to fry, roast, or cook the chicken in any other way than stew.
They lay extra-large eggs since they are a very large breed of chicken. No issue if you have a backyard flock and use just your own eggs. However, you will need to purchase specific boxes to hold the eggs if you intend to sell them. If not, the container won’t shut.
The eggs in a single carton must all be the same size in order for them to be classified as small, medium, big, or extra large if you intend to sell eggs and obtain an egg producer license. You would therefore need to keep birds that lay eggs of a similar size. To put it another way, Giants would not blend in with a diverse flock of egg layers.
Silkie
One of the tiniest solid black chicken varieties is the bantam variety. When I first encountered Silkie hens at the Garfield Farm Museum Rare Breed Show in the late 1990s, I instantly fell in love with them. Although they appear to have fur, the fuzzy material is actually made of feathers.
One of only four completely black chicken breeds, their skin, meat, and bones are all shades of black. Despite this, their feathers can be any color, including black, white, buff, blue, and other hues.
Since around four years ago, my friend Tammy Gallagher of Shady Paddock Farm in Texas has been raising Silkies.
Tammy queries, “So why all the excitement about these odd little poof balls?” “With only a few minutes spent with one, you’ll discover that it’s really simple to fall in love with these sweetest of hens! They have an incredibly calm personality, which is one of their best qualities in my opinion. I have not yet faced any challenges from my Silkie roos. They are a great breed of pet chicken for kids because of this. They make an excellent choice for individuals who want to keep hens in a suburban environment due to their tiny size. Another benefit is that they can’t fly through the fence and into your neighbor’s yard.
She says, “There is always a drawback to anything beautiful. We just accept that with tolerance with the Silkies because of their propensity to become broody, which always seems to disrupt their laying cycle at the most inconvenient time. They are not the hardiest birds in the winter, but they can survive with good shelter and a few modifications for colder climates.
Silkies lay gorgeous little eggs, just like other bantams do. I always use two bantam eggs in place of one when a recipe calls for one because they weigh about half as much as a giant chicken egg. Many kids enjoy peeling those tiny cooked bantam eggs, and the smaller eggs are ideal for young kids who can’t eat an entire egg.
The drawback of small eggs is that they aren’t even small enough to be classified as such, so you can’t even sell them as certified egg producers. You could sell them to friends, relatives, and neighbors as ungraded in the majority of states.
Bantams don’t deposit many eggs, which is another thing to keep in mind. This might be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on how many eggs you need or want. Despite the fact that we are already licensed egg producers, if we ever wanted to only raise hens for our own eggs, I would most likely increase the number of bantams in my flock because they are the cutest chicks!
Black and White Chicken Breeds With Pictures
| Breed | Main Use | Weigh | Egg Color |
| Black Laced Silver Wyandotte | Egg, Meat | 6.5 – 8.5 lbs | Brown |
| Lakenvelder | Egg | 4 – 5 lbs | Cream |
| Barred Plymouth Rock | Egg, Meat | 7.5 – 9.5 lbs | Brown |
| Dominique Chicken | Egg, Meat | 5.5 – 7.5 lbs | Brown |
| Silver Spangled Hamburg | Egg, Show | 4 – 5 lbs | White |
| Dark Brahma Chicken | Egg | 9.5 – 12 lbs | Brown |
| White Crested Black Polish | Egg, Show | 4.5 – 6 lbs | White |
| Cuckoo Maran | Egg, Meat | 7.5 – 9 lbs | Dark Brown |
1. Black Laced Silver Wyandotte
- Main Use: Egg Production / Meat Production
- Weigh: 6.5 – 8.5 lbs
- Egg Production: Good
- Egg Color: Brown
- Egg Size: Medium
On our list, the Black Laced Silver Wyandotte comes first.
One of the cutest chicken breeds, with feathers that are white and silver with black linings all throughout. But there are other good reasons to have this lovely breed in your flock as well.
The Black Laced Silver Wyandotte is a peaceful, amiable bird. This breed prefers to stick with its type, though. They would probably not bother the other birds on your property, but they are capable of standing their ground in the event of an attack or provocation. They wouldn’t bully others, but they also couldn’t put up with bullying.
They get along well with people as well. Although they wouldn’t mind spending time with you, remember that they don’t lap chickens.
They are recognized as a dual-purpose breed and have a yearly egg production capacity of 200 big eggs. They rarely go broody, so you won’t have any problems acquiring those eggs. Additionally, they provide quality meat.
This breed is in good health and has a lifespan of more than five years. They won’t require any additional care beyond the standard health precautions. In addition, they enjoy running around, so if you could let them to roam for a bit, that would provide them with the exercise they require to stay in peak condition.
They adapt well to confinement and are relatively quiet, so they are ideal if you are concerned about the neighbors objecting.
2. Lakenvelder
- Main Use: Egg Production
- Weigh: 4 – 5 lbs
- Egg Production: Fair
- Egg Color: Cream
- Egg Size: Medium
The Lakenvelder is the following appealing chicken on the list.
Since this breed typically lacks spots, the black and white chicken breed takes pride in its distinctive and clean appearance. White feathers border their bodies, while black feathers cover their heads, necks, and tails. It is a unique breed and unquestionably would make a wonderful addition to your herd. But only if you believe you can handle a task.
Occasionally aggressive and dominant, lakenvelders. With their own species, they are reputed to be generally amicable; this characteristic may apply to humans as well. They do, however, frequently dominate less forceful kinds.
On them, people rely for their eggs. They provide you with a respectable amount, laying about 150 eggs of a medium size annually. They won’t make it tough for you to acquire those eggs because they aren’t broody.
This breed can live up to or more than eight years and is often fairly resilient. They can withstand all kinds of conditions, unlike others.
Lakenvelders typically have a flighty, active personality, which makes them unsuited for confinement. If you intend to include them in your group, make sure they have plenty of space to move around!
They would undoubtedly be a great addition to your coop if you are able to tackle these difficulties.
3. Barred Plymouth Rock
- Main Use: Egg Production / Meat Production
- Weigh: 7.5 – 9.5 lbs
- Egg Production: Good
- Egg Color: Brown
- Egg Size: Large
Next on the list is one of the oldest breeds. It has a solid reputation because it once served as a major source of food in America. A toast to Barred Plymouth Rock is here!
It is unquestionably one among the breeds you would like for your flock. If you’re still not persuaded, you should know that the American government formerly even advocated caring for and raising this kind.
They are reputed to be cordial. Nearly all breeds appear to get along with the Barred Plymouth Rock. They aren’t even particular about their friends. Humans are also treated with kindness. They are also pretty quiet and lovely, so if you like, you could keep them as lap chickens.
They are a breed with multiple uses. In addition to providing delicious meat, it also produces eggs that are nearly unmatched. Up to 280 big eggs can be produced by it each year! Although they don’t typically act broody, they can if desired or necessary, making them highly adaptable.
Barred Plymouth Rocks are a relatively robust breed that can live for up to eight years, so you won’t need to worry too much about them.
They talk a lot. They are not noisy chickens, so you don’t need to worry. They can also handle confinement well, in addition. They are a decent breed to start with.
4. Dominique Chicken
- Main Use: Egg Production / Meat Production
- Weigh: 5.5 – 7.5 lbs
- Egg Production: Good
- Egg Color: Brown
- Egg Size: Medium
The Dominiques, which is purportedly my chicken soul mate, are shown here. You can take this test if you’re curious to find your chicken soul mate. You’ll finish in under three minutes.
Dominicker and occasionally even the Pilgrim Fowl are other names for these stunning birds.
They’re frequently mistaken for Barred Plymouth Rock chicks. The distinctive characteristic used to differentiate the two breeds was their V-shaped pattern. The fact that the two varieties resemble one another is not exceptional, though; after all, Dominique chickens gave rise to the Barred Plymouth Rock chicks.
Dominiques are kind and charming. Although they aren’t lap chickens, they are peaceful and gentle enough that you can let your children be around them.
They are more than just a breed with two uses. In fact, you could argue they serve a variety of purposes.
In addition to producing excellent meat, they may produce about 250 medium-sized eggs annually. They are broody, albeit in this instance that is a beneficial characteristic. They are effective mothers who have a high rate of brood raising success.
Their feathers can be utilized as pillows in addition to their meat and eggs, making them helpful in other ways as well!
They are a strong and robust breed. They have a life expectancy of over eight years! Additionally, they typically don’t need any extra care.
If you live in an urban environment, they are a fantastic addition to your flock because they are calm and tolerate confinement well. Bullying is the sole potential danger, as dominant chickens are inclined to mistreat these adorable creatures.
Benefits of Breeding Chickens
1. LOW MAINTENANCE, HIGH REWARD
There is a reason why beginning farmers and livestock owners frequently start with hens. Chickens are resilient animals that take good care of themselves. The majority of upkeep consists of keeping the coop clean and keeping an eye out for symptoms of illness or predators after the initial work of setting up the coop, feeders, and waterers. Naturally, you’ll need to ensure that your flock has adequate space to live comfortably without breaking out in fights. Additionally crucial is a secure run. In order to prevent them from becoming bored and fighting, your chickens will also require amusement. For example, you may hang a head of cabbage from a string, install a chicken swing, or provide the animals stumps or other tiny objects to perch on in the run. Keeping chickens is a low-maintenance chore that has numerous advantages over keeping other livestock.
2. EGGS AND OTHER PRODUCTS
Of course, the eggs are one of the most well-known advantages of keeping chickens in the backyard. Better than any eggs you can buy at the supermarket are farm fresh eggs. There is no need to be concerned about an extensive shelf life or what happened to the eggs during handling or delivery. Additionally, you are completely aware of the living and feeding conditions of the chickens, so you don’t have to worry about unethical farms or harmful additives. Fresh eggs are also more vibrant and flavorful. In comparison to store-bought eggs, they also have less harmful cholesterol and saturated fat.
However, your backyard flock can produce more than just eggs. Additionally, you can grow hens for their meat and buy a chicken plucker. Similar to freshly laid eggs, meat from your backyard hens is safer and healthier than anything you could possibly get from a store. You can stock up on chicken without needing to buy from unhealthy or immoral factory farms since you have control over what your birds eat and how they live. Many chicken keepers sell their chickens’ feathers or fertilizer in addition to their meat and eggs. You may even market your own chickens to other farmers who would buy them.
3. BACKYARD ENTERTAINMENT
Your backyard can be made more lively by chickens. You and your family may have hours of fun with a charming coop and an inquisitive flock. Chickens are fascinating creatures that, like us, like to explore and have fun. Take your morning coffee outside and observe them searching for seeds and bugs to eat. While your birds are hopping around on their roosts, playing on a chicken swing, or fiddling with any toys you’ve placed in the coop or run, relax in the afternoon. Even everyday instincts and behaviors, like creating and upholding the pecking order, are fascinating to see.
4. GARDENING PERKS
Your garden will reap the rewards of a backyard coop if you maintain it close to the range or run where your chickens are kept. For your garden, chickens can perform a lot of work. As they roam the yard and eat grasshoppers, snails, and other pests that could harm your garden, they serve as effective pest management. Additionally on the menu are ticks and mosquitoes, which adds a little summer warmth to your lawn. In addition, chickens will aid in weed control in and around your garden. Your flock’s pecking and scratching as they investigate your surroundings will unearth and scatter weed seeds, which they’ll also eat. They receive a pleasant treat, and you receive a lush garden area where your preferred fruits and veggies can grow.
5. FAMILY FRIENDLY PETS
For some backyard chicken owners, their flock is more like a family of pets than a herd of animals. After all, chickens are wonderful household pets for all age groups. Chickens are bold individuals. We’ve already highlighted how entertaining it may be to do nothing but relax while observing your flock interact with one another in the backyard. Choose a breed of chicken that has a kinder, friendlier disposition and accept them into your household. You’ll immediately develop a bond with these adorable critters once you give your birds names and spend some time outside with them.
6. SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Keeping backyard hens in your efforts to live more sustainably is a terrific start. By growing or raising your own food, you can reduce the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to serving as a natural garbage disposal, chickens will eat a lot of the food scraps from your kitchen that you don’t want to waste. Your flock will love softened fruit, vegetable peels, and various extra nuts and seeds.