"Australian Black" Mystery Chick

[ezekielSM]

Hello, all!

Well, I got this girl from the local tractor supply company. The service clerk said that they were called "Australian Blacks", which as far as she and I have found thus far, seems not to exist on the internet but were supposedly great layers and a lot of fun. Jet is also a polydactyl!

Regardless though, I haven't seen any chicken at all which looks like her. She's definitely not an Australorp. When she was a wee peep, she was solid black- glossy black legs, black beak, deep dark brown/black eyes, and solid black baby floof. The closest thing I can guess is a "red-penciled black sex link of unknown breeds" but I am DYING to know what she is and what to breed her with next year so I can have some babies!

Now, she's got red penciling or some similar marking in bronzy-red along her chest, neck feathers and a little on her wings. They're not clearly defined, in some places the red is more mottled or 'dusted' onto her feathers in appearance. She has a green sheen to her feathers but ALSO a purple sheen depending on which side of the sunlight she's on. She's also got some natural blonde going on in her neck feathers!

So what IS this girl? I love her to bits. She looks like she's gonna be a regular size, not a bantam pullet.

She's driving me nuts.

She's so precious too, very sweet natured and cuddly. Here's a collage.

What IS she???

 

[dretd]

I haven't a clue but she is really cool looking! I hope some one else knows! My first thought with the 5 toes and black skin was a silkie x but she also looks like she is getting in some lacing and has a black sex-link general color pattern and to top it off, the australian in her name makes me think some Australorp. Wow, three different breeds?

Some of the feed stores around here keep their records of what birds they are getting from which hatchery so I wonder if you could contact Tractor Supply with the specific week you got her and what she was labeled as and they can tell you what hatchery she came from then you can contact them (you'll have to talk to the person that actually does the ordering). Convoluted but do-able if no one on this forum knows.

Oh, and

 

[ezekielSM]

Weird.. I remember that I had asked where they'd come from, and apparently they'd gotten 250 other poofs like Jet from "an independent seller"... which I thought was weird at the time. The staff at that particular store have very odd on/off switches, too. The same people have been amazingly rude to me for no reason at all prior to that specific event. I think they just wanted to keep me as a feed-buying customer or something, or didn't want to deal with any sick chicks. o.0

But hey, I never even thought of that, if she was part Silkie. That would explain why her feathers are softer than/as soft as my Cochin's feathers, but with an even smoother feel (lack of words here, ugh) and her extra digit.. would it also explain the black legs?? I'm not so sure about her comb though- it's also black and throws me off.

Did anyone else here happen to go to the Merrimack Tractor Supply Company in southern NH?

LOL, and thank you!

 

[dretd]

Hmmm... sounds like someones project birds. I wonder if they are trying to develop their own black sex link and maybe they are using Black Australorp roo over silkie x Barred Rock hens. Not sure if this would work or not, but maybe they were testing it out. If it worked the boys would be black with a white spot on the top of the head and the girls would be solid black, which she was. Was she labeled as a pullet? This is all theory mind you

Here is a link to sex-link information in case you want to read up on it http://www.ldspreppers.com/showthread.php/5732-Chicken-Sex-Linked-Information?s=da4a67c3968d790d6079f0636895f103

Silkie's have black everything--legs, combs, skin, flesh and bones--really interesting. Here's one link to brief culinary info on them but a google search I am sure would reveal many: http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/bd_chksilkz.html

I hope you do updates because I would love to see how she turns out!

 

[ezekielSM]

Hey, thanks for those pages! You know, that crosslink page is actually the first which actually makes sense.

And man- why are those Silkies all black? It creeps me out- it's almost like they're aliens trying to be sheep!

It's really neat reading about the breeding of sex-links, though. I can't help but wonder if Jet's some sort of oddball Silkie/ penciled breed, now.. Augh! I really wish I knew what breeds would work best to breed her now- maybe her chicks could give me clues!

I can't get enough of how pretty she is, though, with that fiery barring/penciling, and purple-green sheen. It's amazing.

Edit: She does have this odd, ashen-grey/translucent colored skin... is that Silky skin?

 

[ezekielSM]

Actually, does anyone think she'd be a red-penciled mix of something plus Cemani??

The Cemani hen looks pretty dang close to what Jet resembles, plus has the green sheen thing going on.

 

[Cowgirl71]

She looks just like my Black Sexlink pullets I had (Rhode Island Red x Barred Rock). I hatched a bunch of these this year to sell, and they looked just like your girl. Solid black as chicks, black beak, black comb. As they matured, they were greenish purpleish black, with red leakage on the throat, breast, and sometimes the wings. I've sold them all, and I didn't get any pics.

I'm sorry if you wanted something exotic, but she looks just like a regular Black Sexlink (which is a Rhode Island Red/Barred Rock cross). I don't see anything that suggests Silkie. Silkie crosses almost always have a "poof" on the top of their heads and five toes. Does she have five toes on each foot?

Black Sexlinks can vary quite a lot in color. Sometimes they'll have almost no red, just a couple tiny feathers on their throats that can only be seen if you're holding the bird. Other times they'll have lot's of red, to the point where they're not really black at first glance.

Here's links to lots of pics:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...x=154&ty=169&page=1&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...x=125&ty=155&page=1&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0
http://www.welphatchery.com/EggLayerTypes/black_sexlink.asp
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...&tx=76&ty=86&page=2&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:8
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/black_star.html
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...page=3&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:16&tx=62&ty=34
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...=183&ty=118&page=4&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:24
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...x=86&ty=252&page=4&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:24

 

[JodyJo]

my 2 BSL pullets...very different...but the same batch of chicks.

 

[tinychicky]

hey, i have a similar bird! got her out of an agway bin of BR's and BSL's

she's quite a bit bigger now, but here are some chick pics, desending oldest to youngest. mine has green legs so i was thinking EE but her station is like a malay and she has very long feathers

 

[ezekielSM]

Yeah, they really are similar!

The only things throwing me off now are that Jet's eyes are black and her wattles are coming in on either side of her beak and are black as well. And yeah, she does have the five toes on each foot. When I got her, I wasn't looking for anything exotic- I just wanted a chick to replace the one that died after I brought it home from the swap held at the tractor supply company location who gave me her later on. It was touted as "Australian Black", so I've been trying to figure out what she is and if the name is a new hybrid thing going on, or if she's just a black sex link or something.

I'm hoping to definitely figure her out at some point so I can figure out what to breed her with and see what her babies are like.

great pics btw!