Slender black hen looks Leghorn, any idea the actual breed?

[Ugadano]

Glossy Black with green iridescence, with no markings(pic color belies it), comb like a Leghorn, white ear and lays large white eggs every day. I can't find any breed pics anywhere that look like her. I bought more solid black chicks this year hoping for more just like her and got the gold breasted mystery chicks out of them instead!


Here is a pic of my Black Australorp (I think). Bought both together as solid black chicks hoping all would be Australorps, but 2 turned out slender with the large comb, and this one is a heavier bodied hen laying a large torpedo shaped brown egg. The color in the pic is poor, she is really jet black with iridescent green, not brownish as the pic seems.


In this pic left to right dark chickens: BA chick, black (Leghorn-looking) hen reaching under my BR roo, gold breasted mystery chick back a bit, another BA chick, and forward the BA hen.

 

[BantamLover21]

Looks like it could be a Black Leghorn, Black Minorca, or Black Andalusian. What color legs does she have?

 

[Ugadano]

Black legs. I didn't know if there even were black leghorns, couldn't find any pics or hatchery website that listed them. Here are some less flattering pics! I threw out food late in the evening so it was pretty dim light. She reminds me of the white leghorns I had years back.

 

[BantamLover21]

Black Leghorns should have yellow legs, so that is out. Black Minorcas and Black Andalusians both have black/slate legs like yours and a general leghorn body type. If I had to guess, I would say that your hen is a Black Minorca.

 

[Ugadano]

Thank you! Black Minorca she is!

 

[Michael OShay]

I agree with BantamLover21, your hen is a Black Minorca. They are very good layers of extra large eggs.

 

[Ugadano]

Oh, yes! She lays a huge white egg every day. I don't remember every getting even a first small egg from her. I wanted to get more like her but didn't know what she was, and the other solid black chicks I bought have turned out to be black sex links. That's okay, but now I know what to look for and may order Minorcas in a few years. I think I'd be satisfied with a flock of just Minorcas with a rooster. We had white Leghorns before, but they seem to show up better for the predators, and maybe the Minorcas wont. I'm not particular as to shell color, although it is fun to get the assortment of green white and browns. Since finding out the brown shell layers are prone to have the fishy egg mutation problem, I may be ready to eliminate those by attrition!

 

[Michael OShay]

Oh, yes! She lays a huge white egg every day. I don't remember every getting even a first small egg from her. I wanted to get more like her but didn't know what she was, and the other solid black chicks I bought have turned out to be black sex links.

Black Sex Links are excellent layers as well. I've raised them for years and they have consistently been my best layers; egg laying machines. Of course they lay brown eggs and the Minorcas lay white eggs.

 

[Ugadano]

Black Sex Links are excellent layers as well. I've raised them for years and they have consistently been my best layers; egg laying machines. Of course they lay brown eggs and the Minorcas lay white eggs.

I have read several of your posts, Michael OShay, explaining the breeds crossed for hatching sex links, and I have learned so much! Big thanks to you and to the others who tirelessly explain to us newbies!

I have read posts on BYC for years without an account, usually just search for keywords to my questions, because someone has already asked them! I finally signed up for account recently for help with pics of some of my mystery chicks since I didn't know what keyword to search for, and it's been great! I have 2 BSL pullets, and I now recognize them in other pics after BYC posters helped me with mine! After reading the explanations, I'm thinking my little barred roo is a BSL too, he has some shoulder feathers gold/browning out. He seems to be so docile, even without having had much handling, and none recently, he let me pick him up and carry him in the house today without more than a couple of wriggles and a squawk, and looked around calmly while I showed him to hubby. My gentle hens complain more than that! From what I have read, the roo's feet will be larger, and he is much larger in body and feet than 2 BR pullets that are several weeks older than him, and much larger than the BR pullet his same age. I have heard no crowing yet, nor early attempts which can be so hilarious!

I followed a post where there was some discussion of black on the feet of the BSL vs BR males, so I snapped some pics of my barred babies and a hen today.


This shows some gold on the roo's shoulders. Pretty sure I picked him and the other blacks out of a 'straight run heavies' bin at Atwoods. He had the cream breast and triangle on top of his head and was black otherwise.


Year old BR hen. Never noticed black pigment spots on her feet.


BR pullet feet.


BR pullet on left, younger BSL roo (?) on right


Also wondering how he will do as flock rooster, seems so mild mannered now, I don't want a roo that will savage the hens. I bought half a dozen mixed heavy straight run two times, hoping for either a BA or Minorca (before I knew what to call them!) roo, but I'm thinking the BA's are all pullets, so I'll be pleased if I can keep this one to adulthood. I figure it's time for a roo, as I want to be able to replenish my flock if shtf and I can't just drive over to a feed store on a whim to get more chicks. I never much wanted a rooster the last few years that I've had chickens again, having had them years back, since they are basically an alarm clock that cannot be set or silenced and will go off at any time day or night! But preparedness grows the more I think about it. I also have 14 White Leghorn pullets I took pity on (pecking each other in a small tub) and bought after they cut the price in half if I'd take them all! Wondering what a cross between them and this roo would yield, both feather color and shellwise. I've had some college genetics, but all the chicken genetics I'm learning new on here!

 

[Michael OShay]

After reading the explanations, I'm thinking my little barred roo is a BSL too, he has some shoulder feathers gold/browning out. He seems to be so docile, even without having had much handling, and none recently, he let me pick him up and carry him in the house today without more than a couple of wriggles and a squawk, and looked around calmly while I showed him to hubby. My gentle hens complain more than that! From what I have read, the roo's feet will be larger, and he is much larger in body and feet than 2 BR pullets that are several weeks older than him, and much larger than the BR pullet his same age. I have heard no crowing yet, nor early attempts which can be so hilarious!

I followed a post where there was some discussion of black on the feet of the BSL vs BR males, so I snapped some pics of my barred babies and a hen today.


This shows some gold on the roo's shoulders. Pretty sure I picked him and the other blacks out of a 'straight run heavies' bin at Atwoods. He had the cream breast and triangle on top of his head and was black otherwise.


Year old BR hen. Never noticed black pigment spots on her feet.


BR pullet feet.


BR pullet on left, younger BSL roo (?) on right


Also wondering how he will do as flock rooster, seems so mild mannered now, I don't want a roo that will savage the hens. . . . I also have 14 White Leghorn pullets I took pity on (pecking each other in a small tub) and bought after they cut the price in half if I'd take them all! Wondering what a cross between them and this roo would yield, both feather color and shellwise. I've had some college genetics, but all the chicken genetics I'm learning new on here!

I think you have nailed it. You have a BSL rooster. Black Sex Links are typically friendly birds (mine have been friendlier than the Red Sex Links I've had), and I think your BSL rooster would likely make a better tempered rooster than a Black Minorca rooster as BMs are typically high strung and flighty like most Mediterranean breeds. The only downside to the BSL rooster (who is already a hybrid) is that there is no way to be certain what characteristics his offspring will have. I suspect that the BSL roo x WL hen cross would be primarily white with some irregular black patches on them, but since I've never crossed those two birds, I cannot say for sure. I would think that this particular offspring would be good layers of beige or cream colored eggs, but again I am not speaking from personal experience. If you do keep a rooster for breeding, just be sure and keep the ratio to 1 rooster for every 10 hens as roosters can be very hard on hens physically; over-breeding them, injuring them with their beaks and spurs, and battering them. I currently have 25 hens, no roosters, and I get loads of eggs without feeding any non-egg laying mouths, without the aggression, fights, crowing in the middle of the night, injuries, and over-bred and battered hens that frequently goes along with having roosters (especially too many). I think as roosters go, your BSL would likely make a fairly gentle rooster. Good luck if you do decide to use him for breeding.