Black or Blue Australorp?

[mduerksen]

I had a coop failure after 2 years and lost all 7 hens and my room so I had to go replenish my stock. Coop has been fixed and predator proofed so it will be ready when the new ones go out.

I got my chicks from TSC and they had a bin marked "Australorps" straight run. So I got 2 to mix in with my black sex link pullets and Easter eggers.

I assumed they were Black Australorps, but these guys look very grey to me, especially up against my black sex links.

So are the blue or black?

 

[LilJoe]

I see one blue and one black, but the darker one could still be a blue

 

[BlueBaby]

Both of them look to be blues to me. The black one's are darker than either one of those 2. The blues can come in different shades of the blue, from light to dark. I was raising those before. This year, I am doing the White Naked Necks instead.

 

[mduerksen]

Thanks. Once I got them home I was noticing they were awful light.

I didn't realize TSC would have blues. I am excited to have them. I would have been excited to have blacks.

I now kinda hope one is a roo and one a pullet so they can breed. But either way I am happy.

 

[BlueBaby]

I had the breeders one's when I was doing mine. Pruitts hatchery in New Mexico started doing the blues about a year ago. TSC might have ordered theirs from them.

If you have a male and a female and breed those two together, in chicks you will end up with 50% blue, 25% black, and 25% splash. They follow the B/B/S color genetics.