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California Grey

From the Privett website: California Greys are a breed cross of Barred Plymouth Rocks and White...
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General Information

Breed Purpose
Dual Purpose
Comb
Single
Broodiness
Seldom
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
High
Egg Size
Large
Egg Color
White
Breed Temperament
Less flighty
Breed Colors/Varieties
cuckoo
Breed Size
Large Fowl
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From the Privett website:

"California Greys are a breed cross of Barred Plymouth Rocks and White Leghorns. Mature hens weight is 4.5 pounds. This breed is one of the most efficient white egg producer of breeds or crosses that are not primarily white."

From the Stromberg website:

"The California Gray is a single comb, clean legged variety that originated in the U.S. Developed during the 1930's by crossing White Leghorns with Barred Plymouth Rocks. Great layer of white eggs"

They are said to be among the least flighty of the white laying breeds they are dual purpose. Roosters reach about 5.5 lbs and hens about 4.5

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California Gray chick

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California Gray hen

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California Gray rooster

Latest reviews

Silkies for life
Pros: Smaller, quiet, good foragers
Cons: Somewhat broody, flighty
I currently have 2 california greys, they were pretty flighty when they were younger but have matured the past few months.
willchickeneat
Pros: Smaller, eats less feed.
I have 2 that are about 3 months. They are smaller than some easter eggers/welsummer that I grew out at the same time, so I ended up putting them with my 2 month juvie run. Even though they are smaller, they don't get bossed around when put with the adults. Just waiting a few more months when to see how soon they'll lay.
Purchase Price
$3-5/chick.
Purchase Date
March 2018

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dheltzel
Pros: Started laying at 5 months, lay nearly every day
Cons: More nervous and flighty than most breeds
The first pullet laid an egg at exactly 5 months of age and before they were 6 months old, I was getting 20 eggs from 24 pullets. None of my other breeds come close to that. I am using them to produce black sexlinks that lay blue eggs by putting an Ameraucana roo over them. I'm pretty sure this cross will be a great layer of blue eggs.

They are similar to leghorns in temperment, much more nervous than the Barred Hollands I used for the sexlink cross the previous year. Once they matured they were considerable calmer.
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Comments

Michael Apple
Privett Hatchery has California Greys. This is my first year with this breed. Not at all what I'm used to with Wyandottes and Rocks. They are jumpy little devils so care should be made to provide a calm environment for them as they grow. They become very personable as they get familiar with you. There's a few who think they're parrots, hopping on my arm and having a chat. Easy to tell the cockerels from the pullets since they are much lighter in color.
 
Michael Apple
After having this breed for 9 months, I am glad I decided on them. Very good layers of medium to large snow white eggs, and they lay daily. It is nice to know they breed true. Cockerels are very alert and protective of pullets. The cockerel is aggressive, which I have no problem with, but others may. They are friendly enough to hop on your knee and eat out of your hands, but startle easily, and they can easily fly 6' in the air. They are quite active on range, good foragers, curious, and will range far if not monitored. I found cecal worms at about 6 months and wormed them with Fenbendazole. A covered run is important with this breed. They revived my interest in Leghorns again, and are certainly a breed I intend to keep in the future.
 
oldtimeway
Absolutely, there were few if any poultrymen of the day like James Dryden. Unfortunately his poor son Horrace had to live in the large shadow cast by the great man, James Dryden. James Dryden began the work of developing the Calif. Grey but Horrace finished his fathers work and it was Horrace that made the California Grey available to the American public. FWIW, to any interested, Lady McDuff and Oregona were NOT California Greys but white leghorns from a strain of Dryden's excellent breeding.
 
tommysgirl
Thank you for adding a review. Becaus California Greys are not APA accepted they don't have the recognition of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy but I do believe they are a critically threatened breed. I would love to see them become more main stream because they kind of are the whole package and it would be a shame to see them disappear from people's yards.
 
The Yakima Kid
OldTimeWay - Lady McDuff was a mixed breed pullet, she was 7/8 white Leghorn and 1/8 Barred Rock. However, Oregona was a white Leghorn.

Dryden was among the first prominent poultry breeders to widely decry the tendency to breed to the standard without concern for production. He had a great deal to say about the decline of once prominent egg breeds in America, such as the White Faced Black Spanish, and the impact of breeding to the standard in rendering them of no practical use.

His work at OAC laid the groundwork for his development of the California Gray following his retirement. The "Oregons" he produced at OAC were not simply white Leghorns; a number had a significant Barred Rock ancestry. One of the important things he did at OAC was produce Barred Rock - white Leghorn strains that laid white eggs.
 
hellbender
Pretty good review. I've given this breed some hard looks but I keep coming back to the Dominiques, primarily because of their comb.
 
dheltzel
They are easily sexed by about 2 weeks by the amount of white, just like any black barred chicken (Barred Rock, Dominique, Cuckoo Marans, etc). Because the barring gene is partially dominant and on the male sex chromosome (therefore females only ever have 1 copy), the 2 copied the male chicks have makes them literally "twice as white". Anyone can pick the males out of a group just knowing that. A single chick takes a more practiced eye. Look up pictures of barred rocks online to see this difference and you should be able to easily tell the sex of your chick.
 
free burd
Beautifully writen and very helpful. Thank you.
Lets continue to keep them out of the APA as the breeder intended and promote them ourselves.

http://www.privetthatchery.com/
And they serve all the TSC / Tractor Supply stores in the spring if anyone wishes to have less than 25 birds they can be added to the stores order on request.
 
free burd
Privett have the legitimate old CG lines - they are not selling a remake. (as if that where possible)
Privett also sell a 'barred leghorn' which they claim is a different bird but they use the same photo (when their website is working again) because they claim they look so much alike.
Years ago they used the same photo on a what they called a 'production black'. tisk tisk.
As we know the value of the real deal they should be prompted to cut that out.
 
free burd
Strombergs is a drop shipper company (don't ask me how that works) those birds come from Privett as well. Also, the quality of other Privett breeds that I have seen around town and at swaps and the county fair are exceptional, so they are doing something right. Order in confidence.
 
Lady of McCamley
Up date on these gals...and they are still laying strong. Size has come up to a nice large. I can count on white eggs almost every day from them and they are going on year two. A bit flighty, but definitely quieter than a White Leghorn. A good choice for white eggs.
 
dheltzel
The black sexlinks are excellent layers. The blue color fades as they get farther into their laying season because they can't produce enough pigment to keep up with the number of eggs. Hard to fault them for that, but if you want really blue eggs, go with a Cream Legbar or Ameraucana. You will get fewer, but bluer eggs.
 

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Category
Chicken Breeds
Added by
tommysgirl
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Comments
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Reviews
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Rating
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