Barred Rock cross...with what?

[Kev]

To me they look like reverse of Black sex links.

Black sex links are RIR bred over Barred rocks for easy sexing of chicks by down at hatch. Look at the color pattern on the average black sex link hen- basically black top/back, brown front/bottom.

Now if the cross was reversed- Barred rock over RIR(or production red) hens in theory the pullets would look exactly like yours. IF BR have Silver gene, the pullets would be black and white instead of black and brown patterned like black sex links(they are brown because they got the Gold gene from their RIR father. Assuming BR are Silver, then all of their daughters would get the Silver gene.). Then add barring on top of their black and white pattern= your pullets.

I'm not sure why they would do this cross though, unless they have some kind of sexing trick I'm missing this time for ease of sexing chicks from this cross..... perhaps there's no trick and they are vent sexed & the main reason is for brown egg layers with a little more 'flash'?

 

[MontanaDolphin]

To me they look like reverse of Black sex links.

Black sex links are RIR bred over Barred rocks for easy sexing of chicks by down at hatch. Look at the color pattern on the average black sex link hen- basically black top/back, brown front/bottom.

Now if the cross was reversed- Barred rock over RIR(or production red) hens in theory the pullets would look exactly like yours. IF BR have Silver gene, the pullets would be black and white instead of black and brown patterned like black sex links(they are brown because they got the Gold gene from their RIR father. Assuming BR are Silver, then all of their daughters would get the Silver gene.). Then add barring on top of their black and white pattern= your pullets.

I'm not sure why they would do this cross though, unless they have some kind of sexing trick I'm missing this time for ease of sexing chicks from this cross..... perhaps there's no trick and they are vent sexed & the main reason is for brown egg layers with a little more 'flash'?

That was confusing...lol!
I don't know about the ease of sexing...they came from a straight run bin of Barred Rock chicks...the CB's were shipped instead by mistake to the feed store, and they look like BR chicks so the business didn't know any better. The only clue that some of them were not BR chicks were the ones that had brown around their eyes like mine did. Regardless, they were straight run...and I picked mine out by feather sexing.

When I talked to the hatchery the first time (when I got the chicks), I was told that CB's lay between 350-450 eggs per year...two eggs a day not being uncommon. Mine haven't given me two eggs in one day, but then again I only have one CB laying so far, and she's still young...just turned 19 weeks on wednesday and has been laying for 3 weeks. Here is the info from the website about CB's:

Commercial Black

These are high egg producing commercial hybrids. Since different crosses are used, your birds may grow different black feather variations including solid black, barred and silver. Some birds may show red feathering. This variety will always be dependable producers of large brown eggs.

 

[Kev]

Short answer was: suspect barred rock roo over RIR or production red. Also not sure why exactly they did and sold from this cross because it does not have the "pro" of easy sexing at the hatchery.

but from the description you just added to last post mentions solids, barreds, some red feathers some silvers I now wonder if it could be black sex link roosters bred with barred rocks. That's because a black sex link roo bred with a barred rock hen will throw that sort of variety. I won't confuse you with genetics information this time lol.

The brown on face is due to chicks not being pure for certain genes. It's a very common result of crossing barred or solid black chickens with colored chickens. Keeping that simple for now too.

 

[sumi]

When I talked to the hatchery the first time (when I got the chicks), I was told that CB's lay between 350-450 eggs per year...two eggs a day not being uncommon. Mine haven't given me two eggs in one day, but then again I only have one CB laying so far, and she's still young...just turned 19 weeks on wednesday and has been laying for 3 weeks. Here is the info from the website about CB's:

Commercial Black

These are high egg producing commercial hybrids. Since different crosses are used, your birds may grow different black feather variations including solid black, barred and silver. Some birds may show red feathering. This variety will always be dependable producers of large brown eggs.

Commercially bred layers average between 250 and 325 eggs per year and even the most prolific layers will not be able to produce the number of eggs they're claiming. I have no idea where they got those figures from. It takes on average 25 hours for hen to produce an egg and the shell formation process alone takes about 20 hours. There are simply not enough days in a year for a hen to produce 450 eggs. Though there are some hens who lay more than once in a 24 hour period, it is rare, usually caused by a hormone imbalance, or when a hen's body accidentally releases 2 yolks in a 24 hour period (usually resulting in a double yolk egg) and by younger hens who are still getting their egg production organs sorted.

 

[Beavervineyards]

I know this thread is pretty old but I have this same chicken!! I haven’t know what it is from day one. They’ve been my mystery chickens. It has that same really white pattern on the chest too.

 

[Tess330]

I know this thread is pretty old but I have this same chicken!! I haven’t know what it is from day one. They’ve been my mystery chickens. It has that same really white pattern on the chest too.

We got barred rock chicks just like this at the farm store. I have 2 out of 5 with whiter chests and 1 that is mostly black.

 

[MrsCluckles]

Mine is like that too! i figured out myn was a Barred Rock hybrid with penciled rock rooster or white leghorn im still not sure about which one but its penciled rock or white leghorn here a picture of mine.

 

[GiddyUpGo]

Old thread I know but I also have one of these. Anyone else who has one: did yours lay green eggs?

 

[MrsCluckles]

Old thread I know but I also have one of these. Anyone else who has one: did yours lay green eggs?

The bird I have is a speckledy it lays speckled eggs and has barring but with brown and white. It's a cross of a rhode island red rooster and a cuckoo maran.

 

[GiddyUpGo]

I thought she was a speckledy until I saw the green egg, now I don’t know what to think …