Help! What IS this guy??

[NatJ]

Prairie Bluebell Egger?? lol Driving me insane.

Probably not, because Hoovers lists Prairie Bluebell Eggers as having a pea comb.
Your bird has a single comb.

With it being from Hoover's it's most likely some Hoover's exclusive mixed breed with a Hoover's special sounding name.

That would be my guess too.

 

[JesWith3]

Probably not, because Hoovers lists Prairie Bluebell Eggers as having a pea comb.
Your bird has a single comb.


That would be my guess too.

They also list their Starlight Green Eggers as having pea combs, but all four of the ones I got have single/straight combs. I honestly think Hoover's is a joke and if I didn't buy feed from TSC on occassion and if their workers didn't force me to look at their bins full of cute peeps on my way TO the food and practically force me at gun point to buy them...I wouldn't ever get from Hoover's again! Wish TSC would drop Hoover's and get their babies elsewhere.

 

[Canadian Wind]

They also list their Starlight Green Eggers as having pea combs, but all four of the ones I got have single/straight combs. I honestly think Hoover's is a joke and if I didn't buy feed from TSC on occassion and if their workers didn't force me to look at their bins full of cute peeps on my way TO the food and practically force me at gun point to buy them...I wouldn't ever get from Hoover's again! Wish TSC would drop Hoover's and get their babies elsewhere.

Can't blame it all on Hoovers though (I can't believe I'm defending a hatchery). TSC employees usually don't know much about the chicks, and very often put them in the wrong bins. And then there's 'customers' that change their mind and chicks get plopped back into a different bin.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Haven’t looked through Hoover’s catelog lately, but he does look like a Rhode island blue/production blue, which is a blue colored RIR hybrid.

He doesn’t match any variety of leghorn, including blue breasted red.

 

[JesWith3]

Haven’t looked through Hoover’s catelog lately, but he does look like a Rhode island blue/production blue, which is a blue colored RIR hybrid.

I'll definitely research more on that breed. Thank you!

 

[JesWith3]

Can't blame it all on Hoovers though (I can't believe I'm defending a hatchery). TSC employees usually don't know much about the chicks, and very often put them in the wrong bins. And then there's 'customers' that change their mind and chicks get plopped back into a different bin.

Oh I agree. I should have elaborated...I don't like Hoover's in general. I've dealt with them outside of shopping Tractor Supply. I agree that TSC employees can be very incompetent and generally uneducated in chickens. This particular situation is a little different, though. Willow was definitely plopped in the wrong bin (in a tub with all White Leghorns). The only other breed at the time was RIR pullets in a completely different bin. No other black chicks in sight. This leads me to believe that
1. TSC had whatever breed Willow is but sold out and since there was such stark contrast between that ONE black chick and the hundreds of all blonde onese, they threw him in hoping someone would buy the odd one out (that sucker was me ).
or...
2. Hoover's made the mistake when packing them up for shipping to TSC.

I did ask the TSC employee what breed the chick was and he couldn't tell me. All he said was "It looks an awful lot like the Sapphire Gems we had in here".

 

[JesWith3]

Haven’t looked through Hoover’s catelog lately, but he does look like a Rhode island blue/production blue, which is a blue colored RIR hybrid.

Ok, I had a look-see and oh yeah...he really does resemble the Rhode Island Blue!

 

[BastyPutt]

What he looks identical to is a Rhode Island Blue from Mt Healthy Hatchery.

Can I ask where you are located?

I have mentioned this before, but our feedstore here gets chicks from Mt Healthy. I do quite a bit of "correspondence" with the local feedstore in terms of their chicks, and happened upon a conversation with a manager there this year during a call about poorly sexed chicks - here is the gist.

Up until 2014 Mt Healthy routinely supplied TSC, and other chain feed stores with chicks regionally. I don't know how far that spans, but they are located in Ohio. During that season, they had a salmonella outbreak and caused TSC and other suppliers a bunch of heartache and had to recall, quarantine, whatever. After this, there was a period of no Mt Healthy chicks in retail. But at some point they have been able to begin supplying chicks to chain stores again. The manager was referencing this supply while concurrently blaming it on poor sexing due to demand.

When you custom
order through TSC, it comes from Hoovers. However, TSC - Rural King - Wilco, these places will at times get batches of chicks from regional hatcheries here in Oregon, every other week Wilco snd Coastal have chicks from the local Hatcher here - Jenks hatchery.

TSC alone is a massive entity selling countless chicks per day id assume, and Hoovers alone wouldn't be able to keep up with the chain, as well as mail order and other sources.

So, this is the longest answer ever. If you are located in Ohio, or somewhere in that area - I will bet that is a Rhode Island Blue from Mt healthy. If you aren't - I agree with Jed.

 

[BastyPutt]

Haven’t looked through Hoover’s catelog lately, but he does look like a Rhode island blue

Yes. Identical

My long winded post left out I am not sure who else is suppling the hybrid - surprisingly. Everyone melts at the idea of it when chicks are put out.

 

[JesWith3]

What he looks identical to is a Rhode Island Blue from Mt Healthy Hatchery.

Can I ask where you are located?

I have mentioned this before, but our feedstore here gets chicks from Mt Healthy. I do quite a bit of "correspondence" with the local feedstore in terms of their chicks, and happened upon a conversation with a manager there this year during a call about poorly sexed chicks - here is the gist.

Up until 2014 Mt Healthy routinely supplied TSC, and other chain feed stores with chicks regionally. I don't know how far that spans, but they are located in Ohio. During that season, they had a salmonella outbreak and caused TSC and other suppliers a bunch of heartache and had to recall, quarantine, whatever. After this, there was a period of no Mt Healthy chicks in retail. But at some point they have been able to begin supplying chicks to chain stores again. The manager was referencing this supply while concurrently blaming it on poor sexing due to demand.

When you custom
order through TSC, it comes from Hoovers. However, TSC - Rural King - Wilco, these places will at times get batches of chicks from regional hatcheries here in Oregon, every other week Wilco snd Coastal have chicks from the local Hatcher here - Jenks hatchery.

TSC alone is a massive entity selling countless chicks per day id assume, and Hoovers alone wouldn't be able to keep up with the chain, as well as mail order and other sources.

So, this is the longest answer ever. If you are located in Ohio, or somewhere in that area - I will bet that is a Rhode Island Blue from Mt healthy. If you aren't - I agree with Jed.

Thank you for taking the time to type that all out. It is appreciated and the info is good to know. I am Northwestern Pennsylvania...very close to Ohio and what you explain makes perfect sense.
I agree he looks VERY much like the Rhode Island Blue. If he's not, I'm really thinking that Moonshiner is onto something and I was thinking something along the lines of Olive Egger, Prairie Bluebell (all those special "egger" things). Thank you again for all of that info and for your take on my whole issue