WHAT are they?

[Amurr]

I have four birds that are supposed to be Black Jersey Giants. They are 3-4ish weeks and they aren’t maturing like I expected. They are half the size of my columbian Wyandotte’s that are exactly the same age. And they are turning white?!

what do you think?

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

Wow, mabey a white Jersey Giant, or a blue Jersey Giant. We have a 5 week old "Black Jersey Giant" with some white feathers on her wings. BTW White/Blue Jersey Giants are about a pound lighter.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

Looking at it again, white Jersey Giants usually have a yellow beak, so that's what I think you've got.

 

[Amurr]

Looking at it again, white Jersey Giants usually have a yellow beak, so that's what I think you've got.

Saaaaad. They were supposed to be black and they came from a hatchery so I really expected them to be true to advertising. I had hoped to breed them to my English Lavender Orpington Roo. I wonder what kind of color I’ll get out of a White JJ/ELOrp cross.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

Probably some pretty chickens!! I agree though, it is disappointing.

 

[keesmom]

Saaaaad. They were supposed to be black and they came from a hatchery so I really expected them to be true to advertising. I had hoped to breed them to my English Lavender Orpington Roo. I wonder what kind of color I’ll get out of a White JJ/ELOrp cross.

Probably black. The lavender is diluted black, and the white is probably recessive white over black.

 

[Amurr]

I’ll look forward to that then! Do you think it could be possible to to get a grey or blue out of the mix?

 

[keesmom]

Extremely unlikely to get a blue. By grey do you mean lavender? No, none will be lavender. All the offspring will carry a lavender gene as well as a recessive white gene. If those offspring are bred back to the lavender parent you will get 50% lav and 50% black offspring.

 

[Amurr]

Extremely unlikely to get a blue. By grey do you mean lavender? No, none will be lavender. All the offspring will carry a lavender gene as well as a recessive white gene. If those offspring are bred back to the lavender parent you will get 50% lav and 50% black offspring.

Thank you. I’m still learning how chickens color out. Mixing colors with birds is not quite as straightforward as my lifetime of breeding different colored cattle.