Columbian Rock?

[Sonoran Silkies]

To me her hackle does not appear to be barred, but as SpeckledHen said, hatchery birds don;t really meet the standard. THe columbian and delaware patterns are similar in that the body is white and the hackles and tail have black in the feathers. But a closer look differentiates the laced black hackle feathers of columbian versus the barred hackle feathers of the delaware. Similarly, black in the tail feathers are solid versus barred.

 

[pedro24]

speckledhen i agree

 

[Barry]

Thanks for all the info Speckledhen, the eggs are large and quite rounded. I am not very good at describing colors so I hope the photo helps. She laid the 4 large ones.

 

[RAREROO]

Her legs are also very yellow, like Rocks are supposed to be, I don't really know what the Delawares are supposed to be but Speckledhen's look lighter. So I say Col. Rock too.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm betting she's a hatchery Delaware, especially now, seeing that egg shape, plus I asked a Del breeder friend to take a look at your girl, too. Someone probably got hatchery Dels mislabeled as Columbian Rocks and sold the eggs to you. BUT, there is no way to be 100% sure due to hatchery quality in these breeds. And apparently, some of the breeders don't see the difference in the two breeds, so they treat them as interchangeable. I think that hatchery Dels are more common than Columbian Rocks, however, not sure up there in Canada.


My girls' legs are faded out from laying, so that's why they look that way. They are yellow-legged, the Dels.

 

[Barry]

Whatever she is, I am happy with her. I was just curious about the Columbian Rock breed which I now know really means coloring. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
I do not think either breed is real popular in Canada, at least not around here. The livestock auction house where I bought the eggs has closed. I will miss that place, as run down as it was. Some great deals on rarer poultry could occasionally be found.

 

[speckledhen]

Whichever she is, they are both awesome breeds! Enjoy her!

 

[fancyfowl4ever]

In Canada I would say the chance of it being a delaware is low, unless the person who you got the eggs from imported some Delawares from the US. I do know that there is 1 hatchery in ON that carries columbian rocks, I think there are 3-4 in Canada for that matter that carry them(which would make that almost all hatcheries we got). No canadian hatchery I know carries Dels.

 

[speckledhen]

That's good to know about hatcheries in Canada. Seems that certain breeds that are hard to come by in one country are very common in another, which is why I mentioned not knowing the situation with Canadian hatcheries. As long as you're happy with her, that's all that matters. She really looks rather in-between the two breeds, which is why I could not say for sure. Some hatcheries here were selling birds as "Delaware/Columbian Rock", when to most, those just wouldn't go together, other than looking similar from a distance.

 

[Barry]

Where do hatcheries get their eggs from? I suspect that someone in the area is supplying them and the surplus went to the auction. I only paid $2.00 for the dozen! Eating eggs in the store cost more. Red and Black sex link hatching eggs were also auctioned during the spring and summer, I never seen them go for more than $3.00 a dozen but they were always in much larger lots.
Canada has Marketing Boards for eggs among a lot of other agricultural products so if you do not have a quota or if you produce more than your quota, then you have very few legal options as to sell it. It is a real crazy system.