black jersey giants and black australorps, how and when will I be able to tell them apart?

[starfirefarms]

I made the mistake of buying black jersey giants and black australorps in the same order ? I was wondering if when I will be able to tell them apart. I bought extra for some friends and family and a few to sell other than that. I separated them the best I could by putting those with similar feet colors together. But I can't tell them apart

 

[PD-Riverman]

I made the mistake of buying black jersey giants and black australorps in the same order ? I was wondering if when I will be able to tell them apart. I bought extra for some friends and family and a few to sell other than that. I separated them the best I could by putting those with similar feet colors together. But I can't tell them apart

LOL, Them is hard for me to tell apart. The bottom of the giants feet should be yellow. That should help. Seemed to work better when they were older. Call the hatcher---they can probably help if the yellow feet does not help you.

 

[Chicken Girl1]

As PD-Riverman said Jersey Giants have yellow on the bottom of their feet while Australorps have white.

 

[starfirefarms]

Thank you. They all look yellow to me. Looks like we will all have to wait and see

 

[PD-Riverman]

Thank you. They all look yellow to me. Looks like we will all have to wait and see

I would call the hatcher-----they should have not mixed them in my opinion. I have hatched a lot of both, I just never let them get mixed before selling them, BUT they were not a breed I knew a lot about. Maybe someone else has a sure fire way to tell besides their feet?? Good Luck

 

[BantamLover21]

I've never raised both breeds, so I'm not speaking from practical experience, but I think it might take a little while for the different foot-bottom color to become apparent.

 

[drumstick diva]

agree. I wonder if Jersey Giants grow faster or slower than Australorps. That might be a clue.

 

[starfirefarms]

They just told me the Giants have yellow feet. I wish they would have banded them. It is making it quite hard to tell them apart

 

[donrae]

This may not be what you want to hear, but does it really matter?

with so much hatchery stock, the sole difference seems to be skin color. No one can tell the difference in size, shape, egg production, etc. The sole criteria for determining a Jersey from an Australorp is cited as skin color, over and over. If that's the only practical difference, does it really matter?

I agree there *should* be quite a difference, especially in mature birds. But since there's apparently not so much, I'd just sell them as either/or. They're going to be black chickens that lay brown eggs regardless.

 

[starfirefarms]

This may not be what you want to hear, but does it really matter? 

with so much hatchery stock, the sole difference seems to be skin color. No one can tell the difference in size, shape, egg production, etc. The sole criteria for determining a Jersey from an Australorp is cited as skin color, over and over. If that's the only practical difference, does it really matter? 

I agree there *should* be quite a difference, especially in mature birds. But since there's apparently not so much, I'd just sell them as either/or. They're going to be black chickens that lay brown eggs regardless. 

One lays way more than the other and the other one will be over 2 times in size. I was preferring to keep two of each kind. I will just need to raise them up longer than I expected. But I guess that's what I get for getting similar chicks