Gasp! Could the feed store have made a mistake?!

[TheLaboratoryBF]

Last month, I picked up chicks at the feed store; a Russian Orloff, Welsummer, and what was supposed to be a California gray.

Now that the CA gray is four weeks old and feathering out, there is no barring whatsoever and when I looked back at pictures of her when she was just a couple days old, she also didn’t have any kind of spot on her head (indicative of barring)...

I can’t for the life of me remember what bin they pulled her out of or what other breeds may have been in the same bin, but I do know (from their FB posts) that the only other black breeds they had at the time were black copper Marans (which I’m 99.9% sure she isn’t), and black Minorca (which I’m starting to suspect she is)...

Any Minorca experts out there that can weigh in? She’s too young for the telltale large white earlobes but she looks an awful lot like the few Minorca chick photos I’ve found online (feather site, etc.). She also has a black beak and mostly dark legs (as opposed to CA gray which seem to mostly have yellow/flesh beaks and legs)...or is it possible to get a California grey with no barring (I don’t know much about genetics, but doesn’t seem likely with a leghorn-barred rock cross)?

Here she is as a few-days-old chicks:

...and here are some photos of her at four-weeks-old:

 

[Gray Farms]

Going to have to wait it out on this one. Could be several different breeds. Solid black chicks are notoriously hard to determine breed when they are young.

 

[TheLaboratoryBF]

Going to have to wait it out on this one. Could be several different breeds. Solid black chicks are notoriously hard to determine breed when they are young.

The feed store only had 3 solid/mostly black chick breeds in when I picked them up: BCM, CA gray, and black Minorca. All other chicks were brown/red/chipmunk/yellow.

Edit to add: actually I was wrong; they didn’t have black copper Marans in that week, but rather blue copper Marans which would be more of a grey chick.

 

[Mamatomany123]

The feed store only had 3 solid/mostly black chick breeds in when I picked them up: BCM, CA gray, and black Minorca. All other chicks were brown/red/chipmunk/yellow.

They often mislabeled the chicks. When I got mine they had the australorps listed as rhode island reds. When I told them those weren't RIRs but black australorps they said no, because they didnt have black australorps Rhode island REDs are not black.

 

[Gray Farms]

The feed store only had 3 solid/mostly black chick breeds in when I picked them up: BCM, CA gray, and black Minorca. All other chicks were brown/red/chipmunk/yellow.

Edit to add: actually I was wrong; they didn’t have black copper Marans in that week, but rather blue copper Marans which would be more of a grey chick.

The feed stores are notoriously wrong about what they are selling. They are nearly clueless sometimes other than they know that they are chicks lol.

 

[TheLaboratoryBF]

They often mislabeled the chicks. When I got mine they had the australorps listed as rhode island reds. When I told them those weren't RIRs but black australorps they said no, because they didnt have black australorps Rhode island REDs are not black.

In general, the feed store I frequent is fairly reliable with their chicks (it’s an independent local store, not a chain like TSC or Rural King).

I will wait for more discernible signs, though.

 

[TheLaboratoryBF]

The feed stores are notoriously wrong about what they are selling. They are nearly clueless sometimes other than they know that they are chicks lol.

Understood, but I guess what I was trying to ask in my tl;dr above is: is it possible for a California gray to have no barring at this age?

Just trying to determine if I can rule out the possibility of it being CA gray at all.

 

[Gray Farms]

Yes you can rule out it being a California Gray. Both sexes are barred so it has to be something else.

 

[TheLaboratoryBF]

Here are updated pictures (as of this afternoon) at six weeks old...aside from a small tuft of white down on her neck (which she is losing quickly), feathering is solid black, no other color whatsoever. Legs are solid black as well and beak is mostly black. Earlobes still flesh toned.

I’m still keeping fingers crossed for black Minorca based on what black breeds feed store had in at same time.

The store did have black jersey giants in the week before (thinking maybe leftovers got tossed in with California grays/black Minorcas when new batch arrived)...

Thoughts so far, wise ones?

 

[Gray Farms]

Check the bottom of its feet. If yellow you can rule out Black Jersey Giant.