The Minorca is the largest of the Mediterranean breeds, a tall Spanish bird with glossy black plumage, a huge floppy comb and big white earlobes. It lays the largest white eggs of any standard breed — chalk-white and often enormous — and is a superb, wide-ranging forager. Like its Leghorn cousins it's very active and non-broody, more interested in patrolling than being picked up. It thrives in heat but that oversized comb makes it a poor choice for hard winters without shelter.
Beginner friendly
Heat tolerant
Flighty
Egg colorWhite
Egg production120–220 / year
TemperamentFlighty
BroodinessRare
ClimateHeat tolerant
PurposeEggs
Weight
Large fowl (Standard size)
Hen7.5 lb
Rooster9 lb
Bantam (Miniature size)
Hen1.9 lb
Rooster2.3 lb
How to spot it
CombSingleRose
Very large single comb, upright in roosters, flopping to one side in hens; a rose-comb variety also exists
Earlobes
Big almond-shaped chalk-white lobes — the breed's signature
Legs & feet
Dark slate legs, four toes; white skin
Look for
The largest Mediterranean body plus outsized white earlobes and a huge comb — bigger and blacker than a Leghorn, with dark legs
Ancestry
How this breed was developed. Historical records, not crosses to make today.
Single
Rose
Australorp
Orpington
