Polverara
Italian breeds of chickens - Breed with standard FIAV

Origin and main characteristics

Ancient Italian breed which took origin in Polverara, a village in the county of Padua. Since 1400, it’s known as “Padovana di Polverara”, “Schiatta di Polverara” or “Schiatta”. According to some authors, the breed is the ancestor of Padovana. On the contrary, some others assert that the Polverara came from the Padovana.
The breed has nearly disappeared. It’s reared for its tasty meat and for the fair production of eggs. Nowadays there is a project for the recover of the breed and it’s included in the list of “traditional products” of Italian Department of Agriculture and Forestry. Officially recognized in Italy.
Egg: minimum 50 g, whitish shell.

Morphology

The trunk is well shaped, of medium size.
The head is big with a crest of straight feathers that don’t cover the eyes, with small cerebral ernia. White earlobes, red small wattles, red face.
Long neck and neck hackles. Wings are near the body. The plumage is tight to the body, with long and rounded feathers. The beak is strong and curved; near the nostrils there are a small red excrescence.
The eyes are big, lively, coloured of orange-red-brown. The comb is red, with small points, V-shaped. In the hen the points are very small. Beard and muff not very developed so that the wattles and the earlobes are not completely covered.
The back leans towards the tail, which is erect with an angle of 65-70° in the cock and 50-55° in the hen.
The breast is not very prominent, the abdomen is of medium size. The legs are quite long and visible, the shanks are thin, without feathers. The skin is white.

Mean weight:
- Cock: 2.5-2.8 kg;
- Hen: 1.8-2.1 kg.

There are two varieties: white and black.
In the black one, the whole plumage is pure black with shining petrol nuances in both sexes. The shanks are slate-grey with greenish shades. The white variety, all the plumage is pure white, the shanks are willow-green, the beak is horn-coloured. The down is white.

Black Polverara cock (photo www.agraria.org)

White Polverara hen (photo www.agraria.org)