Pekin, IL
Photo: Jean / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
- Purpose
- eggs
- Egg color
- white
- Eggs / year
- ~280
- Hen weight
- ~4.4 lbs
- Cold hardy
- Yes
- Heat tolerant
- Yes
- Temperament
- calm for a white-egg layer
- Forages
- good
- Broodiness
- low
- NPIP stock code
- R210
- Origin
- United States (Oregon)
Breed guide
California Gray
Also known as: Production Black
Professor James Dryden bred this layer in the 1930s after his Oregon State College career, crossing White Leghorns with Barred Rocks. Barred plumage, white eggs at Leghorn rates, and an autosexing hatch where cockerels come out lighter than pullets. The breed never entered the Standard and stays uncommon in pure form.
Keeper's notes
Leghorn output with a calmer disposition. Chicks sex themselves by down shade at hatch. A practical pick for an egg flock in most climates. Sourcing pure stock takes some digging since hatcheries long used them in California White crosses.
California Gray listings
None right now. Have some? Post a listing. It's free.
Where to find California Gray
Showing Great Lakes. Change it with the Near box up top.
Regional breeders with this breed on file (3)
Thompsonville, IL
Chrisman, IL
Regional hatcheries that carry it (0)
None on file for that filter yet.
Sourced from NPIP state directories, matched by the stock codes each participant registers. A flock may keep breeds beyond what it registers, so this list runs conservative.
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