Seeking Info on new "Asia Black" Chicken "Breed"

[Poultryboysdad]

Efowl, Hoover's Hatchery, and Purely Poultry are selling what they say is a newly developed dual purpose bird called the Asia Black Chicken. It has primarily black feathering that features green iridescence. It also shows a varying degree of red/gold on the neck, breast, and body much like the Black Sex Link female. Purely Poutry says the Asia Black harkens back to the Langshan, but at around 5 pounds and 4 pounds respectively for a rooster and hen, the Asia Black is about half the size of a Langshan.

I've tried researching the Asia Black. But the problem is that search engines produce results about the Silkie and Ayam Cemani due to the common and vague nature of the Asia Black name. And there really doesn't seem to be much information on the breed out there. I have noticed that eFowl and Hoovers also sell a newly developed Asia Blue Chicken that seems to be about the same thing as the Asia Black Chicken.

I'd appreciate anyone's experience or knowledge on the Asia Black as I believe a have a batch by default. I recently ordered Black Australorps from eFowl, but what was sent from Hoovers has turned out to look like Black Sex Link pullets. However, there is a cockerel or two in the group also bearing the markings similar to those of female Black Sex Links, so what I have is not Black Sex Link. ( The cockerels in my group appear to differ from the females only by maybe having a red band on the upper wing.). eFowl has admitted the screw up and has given me a full refund on my purchase. But they can't tell me what I've received by mistake. From what Hoovers was hatching at the time I got mine, Asia Black seems to be the only possibility. Again, I'd appreciate information from anyone familiar with the breed.

 

[junebuggena]

They aren't really a breed. The hatcheries just found a new way to sell their mixed breeds.

 

[Poultryboysdad]

I get a kick out all the pompous, know-it-alls who have a couple chickens running around their yard. Raising livestock has been my livelihood for over 30 years and I've studied genetics extensively at the university level. I know what a breed, a landrace, a purebred, and a hybrid are. The Asia Black is a breed. I'm not arguing that it's a good breed or a long established breed. I only have them because some guy who could read English at Hoovers packed them into my box when he was supposed to put Australorps in it. Somehow people seem to forget that all livestock breeds began from the standardization of a "mix".

 

[kaoswolf]

This is a picture of my roo Vash. He was claimed to be one of these Asian Blacks. Anyone know if he looks like he is supposed to? Does he look like something else? I don't trust TS anymore because half of the chicks I got from them were not what they claimed them to be. And since this was my first chicken venture, I didn't know better :/


- just a couple days old

- About 2 months

- today at 7.5 months




Heh for what its worth the hen below him was claimed to be an asian black as well :/

 

[junebuggena]

Hoover calls them a breed, but the reality is that they aren't even close. There is no consistency to them, and they aren't being bred toward any sort of specific standard.
Much like the Production Red or Pioneer. They aren't ever going to become a 'breed', no matter how much you may like them.

 

[Poultryboysdad]

Hoover calls them a breed, but the reality is that they aren't even close. There is no consistency to them, and they aren't being bred toward any sort of specific standard. 
Much like the Production Red or Pioneer. They aren't ever going to become a 'breed', no matter how much you may like them. 

. I never said they were going to become a breed. I said they are a breed. They may not yet be as homogenous in genotype or phenotype as some breeds that have been around a while, but those breeds that you seem to think sacred were once just a newly homonogized multigenerational cross of various breeds as well. These chickens are not a first generation hybrid like the Production Red you compare them too. A breed is a group of animals within a species that have been developed by deliberate selection to have a similar appearance, behavior, and/or other characteristics, and that, with few exceptions, breed true to those traits. Every breed was new once, and many popular poultry breeds really aren't that old.

 

[Poultryboysdad]

By the way, I put the word breed in quotes because the Asia Black isn't a breed certified by the APA. However, I infer that it breeds true and isn't a first generation hybrid like the common sex link varieties.

 

[Poultryboysdad]

It's a breed, just a new, unrecognized breed developed by Hoover's that probably will never catch on. Every backyard breed, whether it be Australorp or Rhode Island Red, was once just as new as an Asia Black or Asia BlluE. I ended up with 16 Asia Blues by mistake when I ordered Australops from Hover and they packed the wrong breed in the box. They're calm and pretty descent layers. Very hardy, as I haven't had any losses after eleven months. Hardiness and multipurpose is what they were breeding for from what I've gathered.

 

[Poultryboysdad]

They are a landrace or 'type', not a breed. Like how Easter Eggers aren't a breed, or Swedish Flower Hens. 

A landrace is a type that developed in an area over a long period of time, somewhat "organically". Asia Blue and Asia Black certainly don't fit that definition. The breed is only a few years old. eFowl's description of both the Asia Blue and Asia Black includes the words "new, rare breed". They're not a hybrid, landrace, mix, or type. They are a breed.

 

[Anasha Poltry]

it's a very new breed. and they don't just come in black even tho that's what you may have bought. I have a couple and they are beautiful and you notice the difference in them but you also see the langshan chicken in them. to be honest I'm still trying to figure out what else is in them?