Black Maltese chicken is ready to take on the world

Twelve months ago, a group of students and their lecturer made an appeal to Times of Malta readers to help save the Black Maltese, the island’s endemic chicken that was facing extinction. A year to the day, the breed has won the survival battle, ruffled its feathers and is now set to conquer the world. With their minds at rest that the Black Maltese is back on the market, the students of Mcast’s Institute of Agribusiness can now focus on the second phase of the project: making the chickens more productive. “Enough specimens of the chicken are now in existence to ensure the survival of the breed,” said lecturer Paul Spiteri, 37. “The philosophy behind this second phase of the project is to make the breed more attractive as a utility rather than a show animal,” he said. Thirty pullets and five cockerels have been reared and selected on specific criteria including body weight, colour, health, earlobe colour, leg colour and comb type. Other data is also being collected to ensure the birds with the best reproductive traits will be chosen for future breeding. “So we are also monitoring egg weight, shell quality, shape and size for a period of 45 weeks,” said Mr Spiteri. Melchior...