Australorp or Jersey Giant?

[junebuggena]

There has to be another way to tell than from just looking at their feet.

Nope. It's the only major difference when it comes to hatchery sourced birds. Heritage bred birds will be dramatically different in size and build. Hatchery stock all typically have the same build and general size.

 

[Isaac 0]

That is the only way to tell there is a lot of breeds that look the same but are different

 

[CarpCharacin]

Are there any other ways to tell?

 

[Isaac 0]

No

 

[CarpCharacin]

If they are completley different breeds, then there has to be another way.

 

[junebuggena]

If they are completley different breeds, then there has to be another way.

When it comes to birds that have been bred to the breed standard, you can see the differences in size and shape right away. When it comes to hatchery stock, the two breeds are pretty much identical, with the exception of the skin color.

 

[DuckGirl77]

Does this include hatchery stock?
http://nationaljerseygiantclub.com/media/Document_9.pdf

 

[CarpCharacin]

I wouldn't really call them hatchery stock. The people were breeding them in their back yard and they just called it a hatchery.

 

[Pyxis]

I wouldn't really call them hatchery stock. The people were breeding them in their back yard and they just called it a hatchery.

The 'breeder' of these birds wasn't breeding very good birds and they weren't breeding to the standard. They probably started with hatchery stock 'Jersey Giants' which, as has been pointed out, could have easily been australorps as hatcheries often send them as giants and vice versa because they can't tell them apart as chicks.

The other thing to think of is if they're such poor representatives of their breed that the only way to tell whether they are one breed or the other is by the color of the bottom of their feet, when true members of each breed are distinct enough from each other that they can be told apart easily at a glance, does it really matter whether the person who sold them to you called them Jersey Giants or Australorps? You want them to be Jersey Giants even though everyone is telling you they are not. My question would be does it really even matter? They are such poor examples of the breed that they were labeled as another breed and won ribbons as another breed (although as junebuggena said fair shows really aren't a great way to judge the quality of a bird anyway) and they aren't distinct enough on their own to be able to be identified as the breed they are supposed to be - so even if they were Jersey Giants they would be terrible examples of them. At that point it doesn't matter much what the breeder who sold them to you told you they are, because they are so bad quality that people literally can't tell what breed they are aside from skin color.

 

[DuckGirl77]

I wouldn't really call them hatchery stock. The people were breeding them in their back yard and they just called it a hatchery.

Ok.