Our great-grandparents probably had one in their backyard, fed it scraps and, in turn, it gave them a couple of white-shelled eggs every week.

They are not dirty, do not bite, finish off your leftovers and give you two eggs a week

But over the years, as backyards shrunk, supermarkets mushroomed and chicken commercialism grew rife, we turned our back on the Black Maltese, a type of chicken endemic to Malta.

Until four years ago, this light breed of chicken, named after its greenish-black colour, had nearly become extinct.

But a group of dedicated students of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (Mcast) has saved the breed.

From cute chicks, below, to Black Maltese. Photos: Jason Borg

“Our dream is to put the Black Maltese back on the market,” said Paul Spiteri, 36, a lecturer at Mcast’s Institute of Agribusiness, who has egged his students on with the project.

The college also hopes to raise awareness through the Mcast Agribusiness Institute Open Weekend, which will be held between tomorrow and Sunday, where the Black Maltese can be seen, tasted or bought.

Four years after the college started a breeding programme, there is now a flock of about 100.

The Black Maltese has several distinctive features, as its all-black plumage camouflages it from being preyed upon at night time.

It has a ruby-red comb and white ear lobes, indicative of the colour of the egg.

“It is thought that we call an egg bajda (literally, white) in Maltese because of the colour of the egg of our endemic chicken,” Mr Spiteri explained.

Along the Mediterranean coast, there are several other rustic breed chickens, such as the Minorca, the Black Spanish and the Andalusian. However, the Black Maltese is unique because of its strong genetic selection.

“It is probably pretty much the same as it was 200 years ago,” Mr Portelli said, adding that this made the breed pure and resistant to diseases.

According to J.G. Mallia, an academic at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, fowl with similar Mediterranean characteristics to the Black Maltese were already present in Greece and central Italy in the sixth century BC.

Records indicate that the Black Maltese was prolific in the backyards and popular for the production of large white eggs until the 1960s.

But several factors led to its decline.

Small family farming industries, largely responsible for the local production of fresh eggs, were replaced by intensive egg-rearing production lines.

At the same time, meaty poultry became more in demand and the Black Maltese gave way to chunkier, imported breeds.

The numbers of Black Maltese started dwindling and, by the turn of this century, only an odd score survived.

“The only way to save it was to make it commercially viable,” said Peter Cini, 19, a fourth-year student.

The Maltese Black lays about 200 eggs a year, which is low compared to the 300 per year laid by commercial chickens.

Part of the Mcast students’ project includes monitoring the chicken’s food consumption because, quite possibly, they can live on much less than commercial chickens.

The students are not putting their eggs in one basket and are eager to promote the Black Maltese for other uses apart from eggs, such as an option for Sunday lunch.

“The rooster is a delicacy. We’ve tasted it. It is a sustainable way of producing meat,” Elena Portelli, 19, a third-year student, said.

Also, hens can make ideal pets.

“They are not dirty, do not bite, finish off your leftovers and give you two eggs a week,” she pointed out.

Most of the students have started their own brood at home.

As the chickens blissfully clucked away in their barns, the students made a heartfelt appeal for people to help them keep the breed thriving.

“We all take pride in the fact we have saved a race,” they beamed.

The Black Maltese chicken can be viewed, bought or tasted at the MCAST Agribusiness Institute in Luqa, this weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

For more information, call 21257006 or visit www.mcast.edu.mt.