Commercial Blacks- Info and Pics! 2nd UPDATE..2 week

[axelsangel]

I bought some new chicks today that they called "Commercial Blacks" before leaving i got as much information that they could give me about them. They are a cross between Barred Rocks and Silver Laced Wyandottes. They will lay large brown eggs and they are known to lay 1 egg a day and sometimes 2 eggs a day. They are extremely friendly and not skittish at all so far. Here are some pictures of them.

 

[axelsangel]

Here is an update on how the commercial blacks look after i have had them for 1 week. They are becoming speckled in there feathers.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Do you know what hatchery your CB's came from?

I have two CB's that I thought were Barred Rocks. They look just like yours. I ended up calling the hatchery where the feed store got them from because I didn't know what they were. I was told they were commercial blacks. After a few back and forth phone calls, I spoke to the owner of the hatchery and this is what he told me about the CB's they hatch (copied and pasted from a thread I started)...

They are layers of brown eggs. They are bred from commercial stock (dunno what that means). They have different kinds of breeds in them...more than two. He elaborated at my request...it means that as an example...the mama hen could be half RIR and half BR, while the father could be half Americauna and half NHR (just as an example)...therefore mine could be 1/4 of each. The are NOT red sex linked. The barring of the feathers does not qualify them as males. Females can be barred as well. They are bred to get high egg production...350 to 400 eggs per year. They have the same temperament as the Barred Rock.

In other words, there's no way to tell WHAT breeds are in mine.

Here are pics of mine, at one day old and today:

 

[axelsangel]

I have no idea what hatchery they came from but i will find out tomorrow.

I got them from Blue Ridge Feed and Seed in South Carolina.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

The hatchery mine came from is Mt. Healthy. I went ahead and called the store you got yours from (I'm a VERY curious person...I know, curiosity killed the cat

) and turns out your chicks came from the same hatchery! I spoke to the owner of Blue Ridge Feed and Seed (his name is Rick) and he told me what hatchery they use...Mt. Healthy. So, I'm wondering how you came to know your CB's are half BR and half SLW? Cuz the owner of Mt. Healthy told me the commercial blacks are of unknown parentage because they are mixed with a bunch of different breeds. I would be very happy to know what mine were mixed with...I don't even care WHAT they are mixed with. I just wanna know! LOL

BTW, I have to thank you for posting this, for two reasons. First, because I thought I was the only one who had CB's. Second, because due to you mentioning the name of the store you got yours from and prompted me to call them, I now know where I'm getting my chicks from now on. Rick, the owner of the store, said he'd be happy to mail me chicks from his orders...including guineas and peacocks. And the price? Including shipping...is only 25 CENTS more than what I paid per chick at my local Southern States!!!! Also, the only way I would have been able to get any guineas was if I ordered from a hatchery, and the minimum order is 25 chicks...and I can't have 25 guinea chicks! Rick said I could buy however many I want...2, 10, 20...doesn't matter...so I don't have to get 25 guineas! Not sure I want any peacocks though...I know nothing about them lol. Anyway, thank you thank you thank you!

 

[axelsangel]

I wanted to get 1 more chick because one of my RIR is turning out to be a cockerel. I went to get another RIR and saw these and started asking questions about them. So happened that the lady that does all the ordering of the chicks was there. She is the one that told me they were BR and SLW cross she said that they could be penciled solid black laced or look like a BR. she told me they will lay large brown eggs and that they were breed to be high egg producers when i ask her how many they were suppose to produce she said one a day and sometimes two. So I went ahead and got 2 of them (knowing my hubby was probably gonna kill me

). The lady might have just told me that they were crossed with BR and SLW just to tell me something.

I had to drive an hour to get there myself. What is the personality like in yours?

 

[MontanaDolphin]

One is really shy and doesn't like to be touched AT ALL. The other one runs right to me, usually hoping I'll have something yummy for it. Thank goodness the one that isn't people friendly has been claimed by my mom...cockerel or pullet, she made me swear I would keep it (she knows all but one of the cockerels from my first batch are destined for dinner). So I don't have to worry about it being friendly towards me...not my problem, her problem LOL. The friendly one, who's name is Nymeria (from the books and now show "Game of Thrones", is definitely not shy. She/he usually can be found perching on the top of the water dispenser. Shoot, two days ago I had left the top off the brooder and when I went in to check on them, Nymeria was perched on the top edge of the brooder.

I just wish I didn't have to wait until they either crow or lay eggs to tell what I've got sex wise. They both display BR traits of pullet AND cockerel. Because I got them as straight runs, they could go either way. SIGH.

 

[axelsangel]

I talked to someone at the hatchery and she said they are a mix of all the black chickens no specific ones. They could have australorp, black sex-link, jersey giant, barred rock, or silver laced wyandotte. She said they could look like any of them and some could even have red on them. I supposedly got pullets. I can't wait to see what they look like and how good of egg producers they are. Got a while before that tho.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I hope you got pullets!! I'm hoping as well, but I have my doubts...especially after the first batch of BR's I got and 4 of the 6 turned out to be cockerels. I'll keep updating this thread with my two chick's progress, I hope you'll do the same! They told me about the red feathers as well. I don't see any red yet on mine. But, they are only 5 weeks old. Only time will tell!

 

[axelsangel]

I will post new pics every week with their progress. Just from last night to this morning they look different.