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.
They can never be used for mass egg production but there are various niche markets for their eggs, such as agritourism
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 Debono, 18, Elena Portelli, 19, and Robert Debono, 22, are three students who have been working tirelessly on the project for some years. They take it in turns to feed, clean and tag the pullets.
“This is a waiting game, really,” said Ms Portelli, as she explained their daily tasks in detail.
The students’ aim is to publish a scientific paper. “There has been none so far on the Maltese chicken,” said Melchior Debono.
They are also working hard to help spread the race around the world to ensure maximum survival.
Last year, following the appeal via Times of Malta, all the available stock – about 200 chickens – were bought. This included eggs purchased by foreigners, which subsequently hatched abroad.
“So far, there are the Black Maltese in the Netherlands, Spain and UK,” said Mr Debono. He deems it essential for the chicken to spread its wings to ensure greater survival of the species, just in case something happened to the ones in Malta.
It is thought that the Black Maltese lays about 200 eggs a year, much fewer than chickens raised for commercial use.
“They can never be used for mass egg production but there are various niche markets for their eggs, such as agritourism,” said Robert Debono, who has a flock of 20 in his yard at home, providing his extended family with a regular supply of eggs.
They will eventually be also promoting the Black Maltese as a pest control.
“They are the best for getting rid of the olive tree fly at the larvae stage. You don’t need to use pesticides, it’s the perfect organic control,” said Melchior Debono.
The researchers are eager to promote the multiple usage of the chicken because that ensures the race survives in posterity.
The Black Maltese chicken can be viewed or bought at the Mcast Agribusiness Institute in Luqa between Friday and Sunday.
For more information, call 2125 7006 or visit www.mcast.edu.mt.
What is the Black Maltese?
The Black Maltese has several distinctive features.
Its all-black plumage camouflages it from predators at night time.
It has a ruby-red comb and white ear lobes, indicative of the colour of their egg.
Half a century ago, the Black Maltese was found in most rural backyards.
However, over the years, as backyards shrunk, supermarkets mushroomed and chicken commercialism grew rife, the breed’s numbers dwindled to next to nothing.