Australorp?

[Thesweetbirdsflock]

Definitely a Jersey Giant!

 

[getaclue]

Not an Austalorp. 1. The eyes have pupils, which Australorps don't. Australorp eyes are solid black. 2 The legs are not slate gray, with white/pinkish bottoms of the feet. Australorps have slate gray legs, and white/pinkish bottoms of the feet.

 

[sylviethecochin]

1. The eyes have pupils, which Australorps don't. Australorp eyes are solid black

Nah, they've just got very dark brown eyes. The best stock have very large pupils, so that you can't see much of the brown. No functional eye can exist without pupils; they're what absorb light. And a lot of hatchery Australorps do have the more common amber eyes.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I got him from a sweet, generous lady at church who loves chickens and helped us set up our first flock of mixed birds. She had a few too many roosters so encouraged us to take our pick. This boy just caught my heart! My best guess is he was a hatchery bird, as she used to order chicks every year and of course ended up with a few too many roos each time. ... well, I may have to order me one next spring. Can they be sexed at hatch?

 

[Thesweetbirdsflock]

Can they be sexed at hatch?

Not really.

 

[getaclue]

I raise, and show BA's. Yes, their eyes are solid black, and you don't see the pupil at all.

 

[getaclue]

I didn't say they don't have a pupil. I said you don't see it.
Newly hatched chick

3 months

About 2 years

 

[drumstick diva]

Elvis looks like he has leg mites or something else going on .

 

[BigBlueHen53]

He may well have. But that pic was taken in 2010, riģht after we got him. He died around 2016 as I recall, and we did treat for mites. We didn't know how old he was when we got him, 2 or 3 probably. Anyway, we went out one morning and found him lying peacefully "asleep" in the sunshine, and he "never got up n'more," as the line has it from James Herriott's famous series of books, "All Things Bright and Beautiful."
I'm falling asleep, kiddos. I'll come out and play some more tomorrow when my eyeballs and fingers are awake enough to actually communicate. Ok?
Love ya'll.

 

[MROO]

Thanks, @ShannonR ! That's 2 for Jersey Giant! I never would thunk it!

Actually ...That's 3 for JG. I have a pullet that was supposed to be an Australorp, but turned out to be a Jersey Moose ... I mean Jersey Giant. She's only three months old, but she's four times the size of my grown bantams. Yellow legs (the bottoms of the feet were the telltale tone) were the key, but I refused to acknowledge the fact (I was totally in denial!) until a poultry judge assured me that she was not only a JG, but a BIG one who is currently at only abut a third of her projected size. I'm gonna need a bigger coop!
Jersey Giants are high on the Conservation Priority List (an +endangered breed,) so I'm sure someone "out there" has kept back some nice cockerels from this Spring's hatches. I'll bet you'll get lucky! Fingers Crossed!