Your Sunday morning challenge....

Hardemans

In the Brooder
5 Years
May 8, 2014
98
9
43
To help me identify these breeds. Your help is needed and appreciated.

These birds are 12 weeks old and were part of a mix.
Chicken #1

Chicken #2

Chicken #3




Finally



Any help would be appreciated

Confused in Plantersville, TX

Sparky Hardeman
 
Wow. This is a challenge. I assume these were part of an assorted pullet order from a hatchery? (i.e. not mixes?) It would definitely help to know which hatchery you got them from to narrow down the options. I'm hoping you won't say "Ideal Poultry" - which you probably will since you're in Texas - because they have a TON of varieties, LOL. Also, what kind of comb do they each have? (single, pea, etc.) That will help a lot to narrow it down as well.
 
I just so happened to look up the breed "Cubalaya" because there was a free Cubalaya rooster on Craigslist and I was curious what that breed's characteristics are. The hens look JUST LIKE your #4, including the funky downward slope to the tail!!!! Link with pic here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubalaya

Just looked at Ideal's website and they do have Cubalayas, so that's got to be what she is. ;)

I'll be back later today to try and figure out the other three.............
 
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Im not too familiar with LF game breeds, so I may be wrong.

Number one is most likely a gamefowl breed hen. By her pattern, I dont seen much roo indication.

number 2 is a dark/black cornish, likely a roo ----almost positive on color and gender, but positive on breed. Pea comb, short and stalky

number three is a sort of production pullet --- her body structure is similar to buff goldens. Yellow feet and single comb

number four is a cubalyay hen---this i am positive on, Body color and structure.
 
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I am very sure of 2, 3, and 4 in that you have: (parentheses are quoted from Ideal's website). Bird 1 I am less sure.
1: a Krainkoppe ("same plumage pattern as Black Breasted Red Old English"), She could also be one of their Welsummers which are often not exactly breed standard.
2: a Dark Cornish ("They have pea combs with a very distinctive, thick, compact body shape with unusually wide backs and deep, broad breasts")
3: a Buff Plymouth Rock ("solid rich golden-buff plumage... They have yellow skin rather than white and their bodies are longer... brown eggs")
4: a Cubalaya ("stately carriage with long, broad tails that are carried well below the horizontal")
 
They certainly sent you some unique birds!

#1 - Based on color, she could be a Black Breasted Red Kraienkoppe (walnut comb), Welsummer, or Brown Leghorn. What is unique about her though is her white legs. I could not find a white leg breed with her coloring. These three breeds are supposed to have yellow legs. So I suspect, being a hatchery bird, that her legs are the wrong color for her breed. Check her comb: walnut = Kraienkoppe, rose = rose comb Brown Leghorn, single = Welsummer or single comb Brown Leghorn. If she is a Leghorn she will get white earlobes. Welsummers and Kraienkoppes have red earlobes. Without knowing what kind of comb she has my vote is that her body type looks most like a Kraienkoppe. She's definitely a pullet.

#2 - Dark Cornish. Could either be a blacker-than-usual pullet, or it is a roo. I'm usually quite good at knowing gender of various breeds by 8 weeks old but I ordered 4 Dark Cornish pullets this spring and didn't notice that one was a roo until they were about 14-15 weeks old. So I'm not going to offer my opinion on this one gender-wise, LOL.

#3 - Ideal carries five buff breeds with yellow legs. The difference is comb type. They carry Buff Plymouth Rocks (single comb), Buff Wyandottes (rose comb), Buff Cornish (pea comb), Buff Chanteclers (cushion comb), and Buff Leghorns (single comb). If she is a Buff Leghorn she will get white earlobes. The other breeds have red earlobes. I couldn't quite make out from the pic what kind of comb she has. Her body type does not look like a Cornish or Wyandotte though. Definitely a pullet.

#4 - Definitely a Cubalaya pullet! :)
 

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