Black crested White Polish

[lilbit207]

There’s been threads about this variety before but none lasted long. I am starting my own to prioritize information about the birds, as well as that I am getting BcW chicks from Ideal Poultry in about two weeks. I’ve researched this variety a lot, and there isn’t much information on them unfortunately.
According to the APA standard, the entire body should be white. The crest should be black without any white coming through, and black is allowed to cover the upper 1/3 or 1/2 of the neck depending on whether a bird is female or male.
View attachment 3394861
This, above, is a photo of the BcW that greenfire farms imported. They do not breed this variety any more.
The BcW in the US right now are recreations, as the actual variety died off sometime in the 1900s. The current gene pool for these birds is very small, and their health suffers for it.
I believe the desired genotype for birds of this color should be one of the following:
E^R/E^R, Co/Co, Db/Db, cha/cha, S/S or S-
or
e^b/e^b, Co/Co, Db/Db, cha/cha, S/S or S-
This isn’t to say that all birds are this genotype; most probably aren’t. I’ve heard of birds from Ideal coming in silver-laced, solid white birds popping up in birds descended from their lines, and general poor color quality. I most commonly see breast leakage or birds who are almost spangled or laced.

I’ve gotten some photos from the facebook group to show these differences.
Below, in my opinion, is a good quality hen. I’m not sure, but her wing carriage may be too high.
View attachment 3394875
This juvenile almost looks to be laced, not good:
View attachment 3394873
this male looks decent, but has breast leakage, white crest ends, and a few black tail speckles:View attachment 3394870
I’ve not seen many BcW with crest size similar to other more popular polish varieties. I am getting 20 birds from Ideal, then hatching eggs from a breeder closer to summer.

Since I am obsessed, I combed through all of Ideal’s social pages to find photos of their BcW. I found one, it’s 2 or 3 years old though. I believe it highlights the crest size issues. I need to study body SOP to know how bad theirs is though.
View attachment 3394878
If anybody on backyardchickens owns this variety i’d be ecstatic to see photos, and hear of your experiences with them. I’ve heard they’re a difficult color to work with, but I am excited to get mine. I’ll update here about raising them when I actually get some.

Please let me know if you find any. Ideal isnt carrying them anymore and I cant find them anywhere.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Please let me know if you find any. Ideal isnt carrying them anymore and I cant find them anywhere.

The only two breeders I know that sell are on opposite sides of the country.

“frizzled and fabulous farm”
https://m.facebook.com/people/Frizzled-Fabulous-Farm/100054308599277/
she’s in california.

”fancy farmer Florida”
https://m.facebook.com/FancyFarmerFL
as the name suggests, she’s in Florida.

I’ve yet to find anyone else who sells black crested whites in the country. I’m not selling either, as I only so recently acquired my birds and am working through a bunch of flaws with them. The results from the number I have hatched have been hectic. LMK how your search goes though! If you get chicks or eggs, feel free to join in on the thread. It’d be lovely to have you.

On another note, NagemTX found this breeder who sells blue crested buff polish. Not the same, but if it’s of any interest to you, here it is.
https://m.facebook.com/zippyfamilyfarm

 

[Lilrockigirl]

Woo!chicks came in healthy and alive! One issue.. I only got 19 BcW polish, Ideal gave me what looks to be a self blue cochin instead of a polish.

Relating to the topic of the birds I made this thread about, I heard that chick down can determine how nicely-patterned a bird is. Darker chicks tend to be worse patterned, and lighter down coloring seems to be better.
I have mostly a bunch of super dark chicks, so I’m expecting poor patterning, but 4(not including the oops! chick) had noticeably lighter down. I still intend on waiting until about 6 months old to separate keepers from cull birds. Here are some photos.

Lighter chick:
View attachment 3407110View attachment 3407111

Group shots:
View attachment 3407112View attachment 3407113

Dark chick beside light chick:
View attachment 3407114

I'm glad you're did... I ordered twice the 1st time , my order was totally incomplete and 3 wre DOA... THE Next week they were supposed to complete they did but my bcw AND red crested red died so quickly and were gone within 3 weeks with most dying within the first 48 hours can't find them anywhere since ideal quit shortly after

 

[I Like Turkeys]

I'm glad you're did... I ordered twice the 1st time , my order was totally incomplete and 3 wre DOA... THE Next week they were supposed to complete they did but my bcw AND red crested red died so quickly and were gone within 3 weeks with most dying within the first 48 hours can't find them anywhere since ideal quit shortly after

I’ve heard so many people complain about this. I’m sorry it happened to you. I honestly think I got lucky with the BCWs, considering the horror stories I’ve heard. On top of the shipping, they’re also ridiculously fragile, I've found. Mine are surprisingly cold intolerant, and Florida “cold weather“ doesn't even compare to the cold weather northern states get. I was in a panic for the first week or so trying to keep them all alive, and did lose 8 of the 19 I received. All of your chicks dying is especially awful though. Loosing a bunch of money on birds that don’t even make it close to adulthood is really frustrating.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Liking this juvenile. Things have been slow, they’ve been rough to breed, and turkey laying season has just kickstarted so I’m swamped in eggs and running out of incubator room. I hope to hatch more chicks out over the season though, of which there will be BCWs and BCW-paint and BCW-silver laced hybrids.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

this chick is either a black crested white/silver laced cross, or black crested white/paint cross. Leaning towards silver laced, as my paint hen thus far has produced self whites and blacks. It’s one of two I believe to be from the silver laced. This one ended up identical to my lighter, often better colored, BCW chicks. It’s bearded, so I know it has to be from my paint or silver laced, as none of my BCW are bearded. Especially curious to see how it feathers out. I just wasn’t expecting this down color from the silver laced and paint hens’ offspring.

Fluffy cheeks of the chick, below.

 

[FattyChickens]

Loving this thread! Wishing you the bestest of luck on this journey

 

[I Like Turkeys]

2 grow outs I’m liking somewhat.

Cockerel, 3 months old. First bird to have more of a semi-laced breast issue rather than semi-spangled breast issue. He’s got a really yellow tint to him as well, and I can’t tell if it’s grime or not, since he seemed to just grow into it, and the others lack that yellow tint. He’ll probably stay to breed, unless he develops an un fixable issue like wry tail.

Pullet, 4 months old. The girl I shared a photo of March 3rd. she’s the first pullet I’ve hatched as well! I like her, she has no severe issues.

Breast pattern, for comparison to the cockerel.

I’ll be back tomorrow or the day after with more photos. The BCW-silver laced(or white) cross chicks are sort of interesting in my eyes. I’ve hatched 3- ones super dark, 1 fairly light but with lots of grayish leakage, and the 3rd has been feathering out nearly solid white. It’s been intriguing; something I honestly wasn’t expecting.

 

[NagemTX]

Always love the updates here!

 

[NagemTX]

I couldn't tell on my phone but I can see the kinda buff staining his feathers now. Almost like a citron color.