What breed/hybrid is this?

[Shirou82]

We have both a rooster and a hen that we got when they were babies from Tractor Supply. They had both started out completely black when they were a few days old, but then around 3 weeks they both started getting brown on their breasts. The rooster continued getting brown until he turned into this. They are currently around 9 months old at the moment. He has 5 toes on his left foot, and 4 on his right. Several people before said that they might be a silkie- mix, but other than how soft his feathers are and the skin color/toes, he doesn't look like any other silkie mix that I have seen. He is massive compared to the other chickens, and the hen is larger/heavier than the others, too. They also dont have the signature tuff on the top that many silkie mixes have, nor the feathered feet. I could imagine that genetics could have something to do with this, but are there any other options it might be? Also, does anyone know what the other parent may be to cause this? I also recently hatched out some eggs from these two. The babies were black, but with white on the tips of their wings, as well as a white breast/throat. One of them, which we have since given away, had lost most of his white and was beginning to get brown on his chest early, the same way our rooster did. Another one lost the white on her breast, but has kept a white feather under each wing. They all had multiple toes, it looked like. A few of my leghorn/rooster crosses had multiple toes, but they all started out yellow with a few dark spots on them















Personality-wise, he is extremely docile when being held, and isnt aggressive at all

This is the female version of it. When she was a baby, she was also purely black. She has 5 toes on both feet, and grey/black skin. The eggs she lays are brown in color, and a decent size.

Unfortunately, her personality is much more skittish. She doesnt like to be held, and jumped out of my hands shortly after this








Thanks for your help!

 

[Gray Farms]

Would you happen to know what hatchery Tractor Supply get their chicks from? That may help start to narrow it down.

 

[Shirou82]

Unfortunately, I do not know off of the top of my head. From what the assistant manager had said, there seemed to have been a mix up last spring and they were labeled as pure silkies, which everyone knew from the beginning they weren't. I had tried asking which breeds of chicks they had in store around that time, but they were unable to look it up/didn't know. I can find out which hatchery they use by tomorrow, though.

 

[donrae]

My guess is the hatchery would call them Asian blacks. It's a label they've slapped on some mixed breed birds.

There have been a lot of mis-labeled "Silkies" from TSC this last year that looked similar. The amount of silkie traits would vary, some looked basically silkie except being regular feathered, some only had a few traits. It was a bad year for wherever they sourced their silkies from.

 

[Shirou82]

They had gotten them from 3 different hatcheries. The most likely one they got them from was Privett hatchery, with the other two being townline and mountain healthy. Any idea what the Silkie might've been mixed with?

 

[drumstick diva]

Have no idea what they could have been mixed with, but, have noticed months ago people where getting very mixed birds that the store sold as silkies.I would imagine they will slap some imaginative name on them and proclaim as a new breed.

 

[Shirou82]

Right, I have done a bit of research into Asian Blacks, and they do look very similar to mine. I even found a mixture of the "breed" at three months old, and it looks exactly the same as mine did when he was growing up, as well as the current picture