Barred Rocks But Why All the White

[beerguzzler]

I picked up 13 Barred Rocks about 3 weeks ago. I have 2 roos and 11 hens. Some of my hens look like the following. Why do some of them have such white chests and necks? You can see the hen behind does not have this. I also added a few more pics for grins and giggles.

Some other pics for ya including 2 Ameraucanas I just picked up(supposedly they are 6 months old also.)

None of the hens (Barred Rocks or Ameraucanas) are laying yet

 

[speckledhen]

Well, the reason it's so light is because it's probably a black sexlink rooster. No BR, even the lighter-than-pullet cockerels, should have that much white. That one looks like many BR crosses I've seen as well as sexlink roosters. At that age, no BR hens have that much comb. The BR pullets dont look quite 6 months old, though, from the comb sizes.

 

[helmstead]

I agree, they're probably Sexlink cockerels.

OR...they could be a silver rooster over a barred hen...but so far all of mine that look like that have been cockerels.

 

[beerguzzler]

Thanks for the help. I may have some Roos available in the coming months then.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

I was gonna say they don't look like pure barred rocks.

Speckledhen & Helmstead beat me to it.

 

[ghulst]

Poor bred barred rocks causes the light necks.

 

[beerguzzler]

Ghulst, Not sure what "Poor bred barred rocks causes the light necks" means. Can you expand on your statement?

 

[speckledhen]

Hmm, even with the worst examples of BRs, I've never seen them come out that white. Usually, the barring just gets more messy and cuckoo type.

 

[onthespot]

This bird is a feral/cochin cross. The mother is a partridge cochin, the father is a game cross, barred with maybe duckwing overlay. Looks a lot like your odd colored birds. I would want a refund or exchange on birds looking like that if you paid for purebred. I like this pullet and think she looks awesome, but she was free.

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
How old is your Americana ? I had 2 of them and one of them was the same color ( brownish ) as yours and TWICE the size of yours . THEY looked full grown and very healthy and NEVER did lay . They both went bak to auction last night . We had NO idea the age when hubby bought them at auction . PROBABLY why they were auctioned LOL