Ordering Blues from a Hatchery

[Spangled]

A while back, I ordered some "blue" chicks from a hatchery. The photos showed the chicks as blue, black, and whitish which would be blue, black and splash. From this I reasoned that I would receive a mix of blue, black, and splash chicks in my order of blue chicks.

However, I received all blue chicks. It's not a problem ... after all, they state that I cannot choose which colors I would get from the blue/black/splash batch. I was just sorta surprised.

When you ordered blues (blue/black/splash type) from the hatchery, did you get all blues or did you get some blacks and splashes, also?

 

[silkiechicken]

Probably depends on luck or the type of blue (BBS) vs self blue.

 

[Spangled]

I'm speaking of the Andalusian Blue blue/black/splash variety. Not self-blue. Of course, with self blue, all would be blue and the chick photos provided as examples would be blue.

 

[silkiechicken]

With hatcheries, if they have both varieites, I'd not put it beyond them to just substitute one for the other. When I get leghorns, they often can be substituted with different lines or even california whites.

 

[Spangled]

Right. I agree. However, this hatchery didn't (still doesn't) carry self-blues, so they actually went through the hatch and picked out blues from the blacks and splashes to send to me.

 

[silkiechicken]

I say you got lucky then! Else that or they drop shipped from another hatchery.

 

[TaylorHobbyFarms]

If the hatchery doesn't specify that they will send a mix, they could be breeding black over splash to insure all blue chicks. The only problem with this that we have found is that if you mix black over splash to get all blue chicks, the blue feathering is not as dark or laced as the prettiest blue. We have actually sold all splash chickens from our breeding stock though we will still get splash chicks since we still currently have blue roos over black and blue hens. I hope that all made sense.