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California Grey

From the Privett website: California Greys are a breed cross of Barred Plymouth Rocks and White...
Overview Reviews (9) Gallery
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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

zephyr16
My 2 California Grey's have not started laying yet. They are 22 weeks and my RIR and Silver Laced Wyandottes have been laying for 1-2 weeks now. All my eggs are brown and light brown. No white. When do they normally start laying.
 
zephyr16
One of mine still hasn't started laying. Perfectly healthy but has smaller comb and wattles than the other and are the same age, 7 mo.
 
T
dheltzel said:
I wanted white eggs so I can make black sexlinks that lay blue eggs by putting a black Ameraucana roo over a barred hen. Dominique hens would give green egg layers. I was surprised at how well they lay.
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Use a cuckoo leghorn, they lay excellent, eat less and have the ability to forage better than most other breeds.
 
EggWalrus
dheltzel said:
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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I have BSLs and mine all lay brown eggs. Yours lay blue eggs?
 
dheltzel
dheltzel said:
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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"Black Sex Link" is a genetic condition that uses the sex-linked barring gene to allow chicks to be sexed at hatch by the white head spot on the males. These males grow up to be single-barred males, looking a lot like their mothers. The females remain completely black, lacking any barring genes.
 
dheltzel
dheltzel said:
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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I make my "blue egg black sexlinks" with a female barred white egg layer (California Grey) and a male black chicken with blue egg genes (Black Ameraucana). Blue eggs are dominant, so the all black females lay light blue eggs. They are hands down, the best layer of blue eggs I know of, even outlaying Cream Legbars. Your BSL are from a hatchery and they use barred rock hens with another brown egg layer as the father, usually a RIR. The resulting black females lay a lot of brown eggs.
 
dheltzel
dheltzel said:
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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If you used a black Ameraucana over barred rock hens, you would get green egg black sexlinks.
 
dheltzel
Vegan561 said:
Did they lay blue eggs for you? I’d be interested in some!
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They did lay blue eggs, so many that the blue color faded as the season progressed. You could still tell they were blue when compared to pure white, but not nearly as pretty as my cream legbar eggs, so I have switched most of my flock to those.
 

Item information

Category
Chicken Breeds
Added by
tommysgirl
Views
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Watchers
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Comments
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Reviews
9
Last update
Rating
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