It is crazy I found this post. I have a question now. In mid April, I thought it would be great to get a couple more "last shipment" chicks from Tractor Supply. I got a Rouen duck, a Golden Sebright Bantam, a White Silkie, and a White Leghorn. When the lady got to the leghorn, all where fuzzy white/cream (all these chicks couldn't have been more than a couple days old) and there was one or two in the pile with little splashes of black on them. She asked me if I wanted the ones with black because they were a little different looking and unique compared to the others - I took one. She's still pretty small, and doesn't quite even have all her feathers in yet, but I notice a single black feather every once in a while. I think she might have like 3 or 4 black feathers. She's all alone now (not counting my flock a few months older that is separated), because the other 3 babies died from a dog belonging to my dad's new girlfriend..but besides the point.California Greys are purebreds. They're not F1 hybrids, so they will breed true.
They were bred in the 1930s from crosses of Barred Rocks and White Leghorns. They're sexable by color because all barred/cuckoo birds are sexable by color (males lighter colored, females darker). Both sexes have white dots on their heads when they hatch. If you look up how to sex Barred Rock chicks, the same info applies to these.
Here's some links with info about California Greys:
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/CalGray/BRKCalGray.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gray
http://www.raising-chickens.org/california-gray.html
California Grey rooster x White Leghorn hen = California White, which is sexable at hatch by feather sexing (which is different from a sexlink). In color, they are white with the occasional black feather. This may be the hybrid people are thinking of...
Hope this helps!
