Barred Hollands **update: PICs ADDED

[speckledhen]

That's what I was thinking, Dustin, but so few have BHs here on BYC that it's hard to know, other than what pictures I've seen.

 

[Carolyn]

I've been down own my knees doing individual ear inspections and also thinking. I am the gal who picked 20 chicks and got 15 roos last year.....no way I picked something as rare as a barred holland out of a bin at TSC especially if the hatchery doesn't raise them.

I think I have Barred Rock Roos since they cannot lay an egg to prove otherwise.

I have one hen who is a little lighter in color than the others that has definite red ears....she might be a barred rock laying every other day with my little BA doing the same and providing me with 4 brown eggs/day (the other 3 are larger and are apparently from my comets who have been laying longest.) My white rocks and BA of last year started out with small eggs.

2 hens on closer inspection do actually have white ear lobes (it helps to know what I am looking for..thanks) They are not leghorn sized and these hens don't look like leghorns so that would make them California Grays.

2 hens look to me like they have red ear lobes but they are not as red as hen #1. They look like the California Grays......they are probably just that with a weak/contaminated blood line from the hatchery that threw back to red ears. I get 4 eggs from these 4 hens on a regular basis. They are young and the eggs may get to large even though they are medium now.

Yesterday I had 5 white eggs but it does not necessarily mean I had 5 hens lay 5 white eggs yesterday......I'll just have to wait till they lay 9 eggs/9 hens a few more days to figure that out for sure.

Anyway, it was a wonderful thought to have something as rare as Barred Hollands but I'm betting I don't have any. You guys have been great and I'd appreciate your feed back on this post but I'm thinking that the roos are one breed and at least 4 hens another which is more like the way my luck runs anyway.

 

[speckledhen]

Carolyn, those do not look like BR roosters. I've had plenty of them here. They are washed out/faded looking in the barring, a sign of a cross somewhere. If Dustin saw some Cali Grays with red lobes, I'd say that's what they are. The BR males just do not look like purebred BRs.

 

[Carolyn]

I did have a barred rock roo last year he was much darker and beautiful. ( I was trying to get him some Ladies when I got these but he got killed not too long afterwards). Washed out is good comparison and their hackle feathers aren't nearly as gorgeous as his but they are young.

They are probably all California grays then regardless of ear color?
Does that mean they are lesser value/strain of the grays?

I want to decide if they are worth selling or hatching eggs from as a breed. I have a beautiful rosecombed brown leghorn roo and I was hoping to find him some gals later on and mayber raise them if I raise anything. But if I've lucked up on a flock of 7 that are worth breeding then that could make my chicken hobby a little more worthwhile finacially which would make DH happier about the whole idea. He tells me I have $35/doz eggs which might not be too off base.

 

[Dustin Biery]

I think they are all california greys. Their lobe color is largely going to depend on how the breeder (hatchery) was breeding. The white lobes could theoretically go away if parent stock wasn't selectively bred for white lobes, which I highly doubt they do.

 

[speckledhen]

From what I've read, CGs are not a bad breed to sell, especially if folks want the white egg option. You sure would have lucked out if they were Hollands! I'm not saying absolutely that they are not, but if Privett doesn't sell them, then they're probably CGs.
Are they considered a hybrid or a true breed? I'm not quite sure.

 

[Carolyn]

Thanks a bunch everyone!

 

[fiftyfifty]

I believe they breed true but are not an APA recognized breed.

I think they are cool. I wish I had some California Grays. I am becoming more and more interested in non-show breeds. Some people prefer heritage breeds, but I think breeds like the California Gray are actually more authentically "heritage" than today's heritage breeds, especially when these heritage birds are bred for show. As lovely as show birds are, I can bet that if you could go back in time 80 years and ask farmers what they would choose: A show Barred Rock or RIR from today or a Production Red or California Gray, they would choose the utility birds. Birds bred to produce not look perfect.

Now that said, I have no idea if people in your area feel the same way as I do. Not sure if there would be a market for CGs in your area.

 

[Carolyn]

fiftyfifty, I understand your point. I didn't want a production breed but I think tha California Greys fall in that category, don't they? Anyway, for now I'm just going to enjoy my little flock.

 

[kelliepulido]

I don't know what they are but the roos are very pretty!!