tell me what you think.

[flock4mebane]

without telling you what i bought.(what i was told i was buying tell me what you think it is). can you tell what breed this is?

 

[flock4mebane]

these girls are 22 weeks old this coming sunday and i was told they were one thing but i have a friend who says adamantly that this is not what they are, can you help?

 

[RattlesnakeRidgeWV]

You have either black sex links,,black australorps, or black orpingtons.The eyes look too light to be black australorps from what I can tell in the pics.Check the bottom of the feet. If the soles are yellow they would be BSL, or Jersey Giants. If the soles are pinkish white they could be BO's or BA's.

 

[Kelsie2290]

This kind of fun. A look at the feet/skin color, and knowing if they are hatchery or breeder birds would help. But, OK, I vote out Black Star sexlink because they don't appear to have any red on them at all and they usually have at least a little. Black Orp maybe, but they are usually rounder, fluffier looking? Leaves me with BA if they have white skin and Rocks or Giants if they have yellow... from the pictures they look more white than yellow? Can we have another clue?

 

[flock4mebane]

the legs are blueish grey with black toe nails, the bottom of the feet are yellowish but i need to clean them off to get a better answer for you on that. so did you rule out orp or is that still an option as far as you're concerned. I'm glad people are willing to talk it out and give reason why, or why not they are what they think they are. if that makes any sense.
when i went to buy them i found that they were raised with a total of eight birds, in a coop big enough for three. they had very little outside space and looked to be very cramped (inner city raised chickens).could this have impacted their size or fluffiness? i feel like for their age they should be bigger. they were hatched 2/2/2013 and are 24 weeks this Sunday( i said 22 in older post but i just counted it out on the calender) they should be full grown right? I'm still waiting for the first egg i have two of the black and two Rhode Island Reds. they are now in a coop big enough for eight chickens(according to sq. footage) and seem much happier. the woman i got them from said they were very timid and do not like to be handled. i have found that when i am nearby they come right to me to see what i have for them, even if my hands are empty. they like it when i pick grass clippings and feed it to them through the chicken wire.they will eat it right out of my hand. they are still jumpy when my ten year old daughter is around, and i think that's b/c she moves very suddenly and talks very loud(these are chicken raising etiquette issues we are working on with her). thanks for your guess and if you have any further questions feel free to ask.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Orps and BAs are supposed to have white skin, giants and rocks should have yellow ... if they actually have yellow skin on their feet, I would vote for them being black giants at this point... however my mind is subject to change at any moment or with more information
How they were raised can certainly make a difference on how big they get and what condition their feathers are/were in, they should pretty much catch up now that they are being well treated hopefully. They should have most of their adult size, but they should still bulk up some and put on some weight, they are probably still also growing feathers which will make them look bigger.
Hatchery birds tend to be smaller and less extreme than breeder or heritage birds, a lot of the hatchery giants I have seen are about 2/3 the size of some of the show / breeder birds.
Hatchery birds and birds from pet breeders also may or may not meet the finer parts of the standard, like skin color. Don't forget also, chicken pedigrees being what they are, most breeds are a mix of other breeds fairly recently, so there are going to be throwbacks, and if you do not select for traits, you will often lose them.
With their temperament, pullets a lot of times get friendlier when they start laying, they sometimes seem to go through a timid scardy cat stage right before that for some reason. While breeds and individuals have different temperaments, of course how much time people spend taming and handling them, it does not sound like their former owner was doing much with them. They are lucky they found you guys, sounds like they will live a spoiled life from now on.

 

[flock4mebane]

i cleaned them up this weekend and the feet are white! they are Orpington's as sold! they are filling out nice. thanks everyone for the help, Kelsie2290 you had allot of good info for breeding them. they were starting to look like Australorps. and the ladie who sold them to me swore they were orps. was undecided if it mattered if they were orps but mostly just wanted to know. Now i am more sure they are what they are supposed to be. and that makes me happy.