Are my Barred Rocks Mixed heritage?

[sunflour]

Wow!! That does look like my Jake!! Are you sure no Rock in him!?!?!? Crazy!!!

If this is Jake in all his glory, then I think they don't really alike …check face, expression, shape of head and beak. I think Jake is a Barred Plymouth Rock! And if not, then he and my Dottie must be related. Jake makes me jealous 'cause I have no room for roos.

 

[chikkenfriend]

Dottie looks just like my Lucy. And my Ayla. And my Blackie. Hmmmm. It might be some molt/winter thing.

Did you see Jake's rabbit

 

[chikkenfriend]

If this is Jake in all his glory, then I think they don't really alike …check face, expression, shape of head and beak.  I think Jake is a Barred Plymouth Rock!  And if not, then he and my Dottie must be related.  Jake makes me jealous 'cause I have no room for roos.

Jake is jealous. But he's jealous of Beethoven and Shakespeare. They have all the girls.

 

[sunflour]

And check out Jakes legs and feet --BR all the way, In My Opinion.

Love the rabbit, I met my neighbors rabbit today…he's using the little fellow to train beagles to rabbit hunt…..the same beagles that don't pay attention to the wild rabbits sitting right next to them!!

I really could care less if my BR's aren't pure breed, they are sweet girls. Just thought it was odd at 18 mo old their feathers would change colors. Will watch to see how they surprise me next.

 

[speckledhen]

The thing about hatchery stock is that they are not that great. I've seen BRs with grayish legs, off color plumage, etc. He could very well be a BR, however, the thing about the barring gene is that other birds besides BRs have that, the Delaware is one, and you can definitely have a bird who has NO Barred Rock in it, like my Deacon, who is most definitely barred as you saw. Unless you have a good eye for the Rock type and notice his off color and white skin, you'd not realize he wasn't a BR. Or, you'd think he was a black sex link male.

One case where a barring gene came out was a chick out of my Blue Orpington rooster, who was Sandhill Preservation stock, over my big red heritage line Rhode Island Red x exhibition Buff Orpington hen, Meg. The chick was completely barred, looked like any black sex link male! Many years back, I was informed that Sandhill added in Blue Plymouth Rocks to the Orp line for some reason, maybe to offset inbreeding, and somehow, that snuck in a barring gene as well as the yellow leg gene, though my bird had proper slate legs and you couldn't tell he had a barring gene unless you saw his almost striped dark blue-light blue-dark blue sickle feathers.

 

[sunflour]

The thing about hatchery stock is that they are not that great. I've seen BRs with grayish legs, off color plumage, etc. He could very well be a BR, however, the thing about the barring gene is that other birds besides BRs have that, the Delaware is one, and you can definitely have a bird who has NO Barred Rock in it, like my Deacon, who is most definitely barred as you saw. Unless you have a good eye for the Rock type and notice his off color and white skin, you'd not realize he wasn't a BR. Or, you'd think he was a black sex link male.

One case where a barring gene came out was a chick out of my Blue Orpington rooster, who was Sandhill Preservation stock, over my big red heritage line Rhode Island Red x exhibition Buff Orpington hen, Meg. The chick was completely barred, looked like any black sex link male! Many years back, I was informed that Sandhill added in Blue Plymouth Rocks to the Orp line for some reason, maybe to offset inbreeding, and somehow, that snuck in a barring gene as well as the yellow leg gene, though my bird had proper slate legs and you couldn't tell he had a barring gene unless you saw his almost striped dark blue-light blue-dark blue sickle feathers.

So, do those with the barring gene show similar fluff coloring distribution as chicks? I have only seen photos of the BR and Dominiques and they look exactly alike to me.

And back to my OP, Can you explain why my 3 hens were black/white with a little iridescent blue to the black up until 18 months old now , going thru a soft molt and looks like the white is changing in many areas to a golden brown? I assume likely so to mixed heritage, but why would it just start to show up now?

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: Not sure what you mean. Any black and white barred breed will appear black as a chick with a head spot, whether Dominique (rose combed, though) or Cuckoo Marans or BR. My Blue Orp carried a barring gene, but I don't know if he had a head spot or not-I would not have looked for one, him being a Blue Orp, not a barred variety. His gene was hidden, not displayed, and popped up in only a few chicks over the years.

 

[sunflour]

Not sure what you mean. Any black and white barred breed will appear black as a chick with a head spot, whether Dominique (rose combed, though) or Cuckoo Marans or BR. My Blue Orp carried a barring gene, but I don't know if he had a head spot or not-I would not have looked for one, him being a Blue Orp, not a barred variety. His gene was hidden, not displayed, and popped up in only a few chicks over the years.

Barred Rocks have yellow butts and bellies as chicks, black all other places and white head spot. Not black all over?

 

[speckledhen]

Barred Rocks have yellow butts and bellies as chicks, black all other places and white head spot. Not black all over?

I've raised hundreds of BR chicks and some have yellowish bellies/bums and some are more white there. All barred birds will have a head spot. I've rarely seen a chick that was 100% black, even ones that ended up solid black, but those did not have a head spot. the spot is the clue that it's a barred bird.

 

[sunflour]

I've raised hundreds of BR chicks and some have yellowish bellies/bums and some are more white there. All barred birds will have a head spot. I've rarely seen a chick that was 100% black, even ones that ended up solid black, but those did not have a head spot. the spot is the clue that it's a barred bird.

Thanks for info…always nice to expand our knowledge.

Do your barred chickens of any breed change their barring colors like mine?