Production Black? What is it?

[Olekushka123]

Is it a heritage breed or a hybrid? Where can I get them?

 

[Michael OShay]

Production Black Cickens were developed by Ideal Poultry in the early 1960's. They are a combination of several breeds with black, and silver barred feathers, with a color pattern similar to Barred Rocks. They are very efficient white egg producers which breed true; however, they are not an APA recognized breed. You can get them from Ideal Poultry in Cameron, TX (http://www.idealpoultry.com/index.html).

 

[Michael OShay]

Production Black Cickens

Oops, I misspelled chickens. Sorry for the typo. My PC seems to do that a lot. )

 

[Olekushka123]

Hello Michael. So they considered to be a heritage breed? They are not hybrids?

 

[keesmom]

No, they are not a heritage breed. They are hybrids.

 

[BantamLover21]

No, they are not a heritage breed. They are hybrids.

x2

 

[Michael OShay]

Hello Michael. So they considered to be a heritage breed? They are not hybrids?

No, they are not a heritage breed (not recognized by any of the poultry governing bodies), however, like Production Reds, they do breed true. Because of that, a lot of chicken owners would not refer to them as hybrids. I suppose in the end, it depends on how you define a hybrid and who is defining it. With greatest respect to keesmon and BantamLover21, every definition of hybrids that I have read indicates that hybrids do not breed true. Since Production Reds and Production Blacks do breed true (if you breed two PRs or tw PBs together, you will get PR or PB offspring), I would not personally call them hybrids.

 

[Wyandottes7]

No, they are not a heritage breed. They are hybrids.

X3

 

[Olekushka123]

Do you know what kind of heritage breeds make Production Black hybrids?

 

[Michael OShay]

With regard to Production Blacks and Production Reds, here are some quotes from printed sources that constitute the reason that I (and others) would not personally classify them as hybrids.

"Hybrids do not breed true so when you need more of them, you have to go back to crossing the original stock again." (which is not the case with PBs and PRs)
From Poultry Keeper's article on hybrids at http://poultrykeeper.com/chicken-breeds/hybrid.

"They (Production Blacks) breed true; however, they have not been recognized as a pure breed by the American Standard of Perfection."
From Ideal Poultry's description of Production Blacks at http://www.idealpoultry.com/item.html.

"The Production Reds are a true breed . . . What this means is if you have a flock of Production Reds, they will be able to sustain themselves. Their fertile hatching eggs will results in more Production Reds." From Purely Poultry's article on The Difference Between Production Reds and Sex-Linked hybrids.