[leddenton]

Having lost my 3 lovely hybred chickens before they reached 3yrs old I was put off of having any more but have just been offered 2 from a friend. He bought some black rock/welsummer eggs from a breeder which he hatched under his broody hens. Does that combination sound O.K and should they be dark feathered as he said they are golden.They are 1 week old. Will go and see them nxt week but will have to wait to choose as don't want a cockerel!

[joyfull]

both blackrocks and welsummers are lovely birds so fingers crossed the off spring will be lovely too 

[daisy1990]

Good luck with them- once a hen keeper always a hen keeper!

[ANHBUC]

Having lost my 3 lovely hybred chickens before they reached 3yrs old I was put off of having any more but have just been offered 2 from a friend. He bought some black rock/welsummer eggs from a breeder which he hatched under his broody hens. Does that combination sound O.K and should they be dark feathered as he said they are golden.They are 1 week old. Will go and see them nxt week but will have to wait to choose as don't want a cockerel!

Are they two breeds or a cross between the two breeds?

The young Black Rock cockerels I have seen have all been light in colour, there is a picture at the very bottom of this link of a Black Rock with chicks.  You can clearly see which is male and female.

http://snapdragongarden.typepad.com/snapdragons_garden/livestock/ 

[GrannieAnnie]

Having lost my 3 lovely hybred chickens before they reached 3yrs old I was put off of having any more but have just been offered 2 from a friend. He bought some black rock/welsummer eggs from a breeder which he hatched under his broody hens. Does that combination sound O.K and should they be dark feathered as he said they are golden.They are 1 week old. Will go and see them nxt week but will have to wait to choose as don't want a cockerel!

Are they two breeds or a cross between the two breeds?

The young Black Rock cockerels I have seen have all been light in colour, there is a picture at the very bottom of this link of a Black Rock with chicks.  You can clearly see which is male and female.

http://snapdragongarden.typepad.com/snapdragons_garden/livestock/ 

There shouldn't be any black rock cockerals.  The breeders in Scotland cull all the boys at hatching and only sell female day olds.  They don't sell hatching eggs either for the same reason.

There are other similar looking chickens like the Bovans Nera and the Shaver blacks, the latter we have a small breeding flock of, but again all boys are culled at hatching or day old as they are auto sexing.

I know it doesn't really matter if they are black rocks or not, but for 40 odd years the black rock breeders have worked very had to produce this breed and they don't like people selling 'black rocks' that aren't!  It's one of the reasons black rocks are generally more expensive to buy.

[ANHBUC]

Having lost my 3 lovely hybred chickens before they reached 3yrs old I was put off of having any more but have just been offered 2 from a friend. He bought some black rock/welsummer eggs from a breeder which he hatched under his broody hens. Does that combination sound O.K and should they be dark feathered as he said they are golden.They are 1 week old. Will go and see them nxt week but will have to wait to choose as don't want a cockerel!

Are they two breeds or a cross between the two breeds?

I bought my Black Rocks from a Black Rock approved agent who had some cockerels but don't know if they just got them thrown in for free to eat!   

The young Black Rock cockerels I have seen have all been light in colour, there is a picture at the very bottom of this link of a Black Rock with chicks.  You can clearly see which is male and female.

http://snapdragongarden.typepad.com/snapdragons_garden/livestock/ 

There shouldn't be any black rock cockerals.  The breeders in Scotland cull all the boys at hatching and only sell female day olds.  They don't sell hatching eggs either for the same reason.

There are other similar looking chickens like the Bovans Nera and the Shaver blacks, the latter we have a small breeding flock of, but again all boys are culled at hatching or day old as they are auto sexing.

I know it doesn't really matter if they are black rocks or not, but for 40 odd years the black rock breeders have worked very had to produce this breed and they don't like people selling 'black rocks' that aren't!  It's one of the reasons black rocks are generally more expensive to buy.