Barred Rock cross...with what?

[MontanaDolphin]

So I bought some chicks 5 months ago that were "supposed" to be Barred Rocks. Long story short, Mt. Healthy Hatchery in Ohio shipped the wrong chicks to Southern States where I got them. They are called "Commercial Blacks". When I called the hatchery, they told me they are Barred Rock crosses, but there are different breeds they could be crossed with so they couldn't tell me specifics. I've asked before if anyone knew what they could be crossed with, but the pics and the post were when the chicks were a few weeks old.

Now that they've "grown up", I'm hoping someone here can tell me what they are crossed with. Lots of pics to help

First, these two looked different than the other four...they had brown around their eyes as chicks. Here's pics of them as chicks, and then all grown up. The other four looked like regular old BR chicks. Since these two are the most obviously different, I'm posting their pics:

 

[BantamFan4Life]

I'm not sure, you can never be too sure what a breed could be crossed with, sorry!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Agree with Happy,

You'll likely never know what goes into these various and sundry hatchery mixes, with any degree of certainty.
Mt Healthy didn't/wouldn't even tell you.

The hatchery quality Barred Rock is useful for making black sex links and/or head dot sexing of chicks. Unless someone who works at a particular hatchery actually told you what birds were used in these various crosses the customer doesn't ever know for certain. In many cases the parent stock themselves are a mix.

Commercial blacks, Black sex links, etc get confused for Barred Rocks by feed store employees and customers alike. All folks see is blackish chicks in a bin.

Look how many nifty names and mixes there are for hatchery Red Sex Links.
How many Tints, Specs, and variations off the White Leghorn are sold? A bunch.

 

[peppersow]

they look nice, though.

 

[donrae]

Sorry, you're never going to know. Pretty much all you can say is it was another straight combed breed. Really, doesn't matter if they lay well, right?

 

[popsicle]

A hatchery like that probably knows exactly what they are crossed with--especially if they are a "commercial" layer. However, the breeding is probably a proprietary strain and a trade secret.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Hmm...so I'll never know then, huh? Crap.

Well, let me ask ya'll this: What if I gave a list of the chickens they do carry? Would that help?

Aroucana/Ameraucana
Black Giant
Black Sex Link (RIR male/BR female cross)
Buff Orpington
Cornish Rock Cross (Cornish male/White Rock female cross)
Hubbard Golden Comet
Light Brahma
Buff Brahma
Dark Brahma
Golden Laced Wyandotte
Silver Laced Wyandotte
New Hampshire
Partridge Rock
Rhode Island Red
Brown Leghorn
Babcock White Leghorn
Production Red (NH/RIR cross)
DeKalb Amberlink
Columbian Rock Cross (RIR female/Columbian male cross)
Red Cross (RIR male/Columbian female cross)
Tetra Tint (RIR male/White Leghorn female cross)
Dixie Rainbow

 

[peppersow]

I'm not sure, and I'm not good at breed guessing, but maybe RIR? I don't know.

 

[thebanthams]

Wow thats tricky ! One clue I like to know is their front chest color is very light, hmmmm? Im scratching my head ! They look almost full breed ! Could be that other breed is 1/4th of something? Anyway I like them all very nice birds..

 

[peppersow]

thebanthams might be right. Its likely there a couple of different breeds mixed.