Chicken Breed, Hybrid, or Barnyard Mix? Clearing Up the Confusion
Recently a Facebook post about Silverrud Blues caught my eye because the OP posed a question that piqued my interest: “Why are these traits showing up in my chicken? Is this 'correct' for Silverrud Blues?”
For background, Silverrud Blues are a blue-black-splash Swedish breed known for laying beautiful blue-green eggs, frequently spangled with speckles. As a breed, they have many remarkable and desirable traits, but they also have a reputation for being a bit inconsistent in form and function.
Reading through the comments one in particular caught my eye: “They’re not actually a breed — they’re a hybrid.”
I tried to bite my tongue, but I just couldn't scroll on by without popping off what I hope was perceived as a respectful, if strong defense of Silverrud Blues being a true breed.
Originally named Isbar, Martin Silverrud, the creator of this stunning breed passed away before it was completely refined. It's believed he may have intended to create it as an autosexing breed. Regardless, it is well known that the breed is somewhat inconsistent in it's characteristics, leading to the OP of the comment asserting it is just a "hybrid".
Reflecting on this exchange later, I realized that this is a perfect example of the confusion many chicken keepers have around the words breed, hybrid, barnyard mix, and recognized breed. I feel is important to clear this up, especially in the current environment where so many wonderful small farm and homestead breeders are creating intentional hybrid crosses with a primary focus on colorful eggs and are often maligned for creating nothing more than “barnyard mixes”.
Breed ≠ APA-Recognized Breed
First, let’s get on the same page about what a chicken “breed” truly is:
A breed is a group of animals that consistently passes down the same traits — in chickens, that means things like body size, feather pattern, comb type, and egg color. A true breed breeds true across the primary characteristics a chicken can have — meaning, pair two good examples of a breed together and their offspring will look and perform like the parents.
The American Poultry Association is one registry that formalizes this for show purposes, but formal APA breed recognition and the Standard of Perfection they adopt for each breed is not what defines a chicken variety as a "true breed”.
Many breeds—established and recognized in other countries as well as in the United States—along with various landraces (naturally developed breeds with consistent traits in a specific location) and recognized heritage lines, have never gone through the APA’s "recognition" process, yet are still widely accepted as breeds among serious breeders and poultry keepers worldwide.
In other words — the APA is a show registry, not the arbiter of whether a breed is actually a bred or not.
Recognition and Registries Around the World
Different regions have their own breed registries and standards:
- The Poultry Club of Great Britain (PCGB) governs recognized breeds in the UK.
- The Entente Européenne (EE) serves as a registry across many European countries.
- National or regional poultry clubs often maintain their own breed lists separate from APA or PCGB standards.
Silverudd’s Blues, for example, are recognized in Sweden. That recognition, plus the fact that they breed true, even if some traits are less refined — makes them a breed — even though they have no APA listing.
Hybrids, Mixes, Developing Breeds, and Established Breeds
Hybrids
In the poultry world, a hybrid is generally a deliberate first-generation (F1) cross between two different breeds, made to combine specific traits. Examples include:
- Sex-linked crosses (Barred Rock hen × Rhode Island Red rooster), commercial production reds, black sex-links.
- Easter Eggers, F1 Olive Eggers
Hybrids don’t breed true — if you mate two hybrids, the F2 generation will show a wide variety of traits. Some of these may be desirable and some might not.
Multi-generation hybrids are also possible, and here’s where confusion creeps in. Many talented breeders have developed an incredible pallate of olive eggers, heavy-bloomed eggs, and speckled eggers over several generations. Often these may be multiple generations deep, but because the focus is usually only on producing various shades of green/olive eggs without fixing any physical traits in the birds, they’re still hybrids.
- Within the same pairing, you might get single combs and pea combs, black birds and patterned birds, clean-legged and feather-legged — and egg shades from mint to khaki, speckled or unspeckled, with varying amounts of bloom.
- Generational depth alone doesn’t make a breed. A breed requires trait fixation and predictable, uniform offspring from multiple, unrelated breeding lines.
Barnyard Mixes
These are unplanned, uncontrolled matings between various breeds or hybrids. There’s no breeding plan, no selection pressure, and no goal beyond “chickens happen.” Egg color, feather type, and productivity can vary wildly even among full siblings.
Developing Breeds
A developing breed IS the middle ground here. These birds are the product of an intentional, multi-generation breeding program aimed at locking in a set of chosen traits.
- Traits may include appearance (plumage pattern, body type), function (egg production, temperament, climate hardiness), and egg characteristics (color, size, speckling, bloom).
- Early generations may still produce “off-type” birds, but with each generation, breeders select and pair only those that match the desired standard.
Breeders have remarkable flexibility in choosing which traits to “lock in” within their flocks, and the range of possibilities is vast. For example, Dr. Whiting’s work with Whiting True Blues focused on abundant types of feathering, pea combs, and the O/O gene for producing blue eggs. In contrast, another breed might have a much narrower range of acceptable feathering—such as uniform penciling in Partridge Plymouth Rocks or precise lacing in Silver Laced Wyandottes—while allowing greater variety in other traits.
Welsummers, for instance, can lay eggs with a wide spectrum of speckling patterns, from large blotches to tiny flecks, and still meet the Standard of Perfection (SOP). Beyond SOP guidelines, individual breeders may also select for characteristics that aren’t officially recognized—such as heavier blooms in Copper Marans eggs or a lighter background egg color in a Welsummer flock. These examples highlight how breeders can shape their birds in ways that suit their goals and preferences, maintaining purebred status without necessarily adhering strictly to SOP criteria.
In Summary...
An established breed breeds true-to-type consistently across generations, even when raised by different breeders in different locations.
- It has a defined standard, whether in a formal registry (APA, PCGB, EE) or through a breed club.
- Breeders agree on the core traits that define the breed and work to maintain them.
Why This Matters for Queen of Coops
At Queen of Coops, my breeding projects aren’t one-off hybrids or barnyard mixes. Each line I’m working on is being developed through a structured, multi-generation selection process for:
- Autosexing ability (chicks can be sexed at hatch by feather color)
- Unique egg colors and patterns
- Strong production
- Temperament and hardiness
Initially, they will not be APA recognized — and may never be as my goal isn’t for showing — but that doesn’t mean they are “just hybrids.” Once I've locked in the desired traits and they breed true, they are breeds, built to be both beautiful and functional.
Closing Thoughts
The next time someone dismisses a bird as “just a hybrid,” it’s worth asking: Is it a one-off purposeful cross like a sex-link or production green egger? A multi-generation project with focus, such as gorgeous olives, speckles, or heavy blooms? Or a barnyard mix without any standard at all? Or is it a true, developing breed on the path to consistency?
For those of us passionate about breeding for both form and function, the goal is always the same: to leave the poultry world richer, more diverse, and better equipped for the needs of future keepers. That vision can take many forms — from developing purposeful hybrids that fill a rainbow egg basket, to faithfully improving a heritage breed to meet its Standard of Perfection, to bringing an entirely new breed into the world. However the path looks, each breeder’s dedication contributes to the living history and future of poultry — and that’s something worth celebrating.
If you’d like to follow along as I develop my own new autosexing, rainbow egg-laying breeds — and learn more about the genetics, planning, and selection that go into it — join my email list and become a Queen of Our Coop.
Photo credits: Some images courtesy of Freshly Picked Chicks — I've got a couple dozen of her gorgeous Welsummer eggs in my incubator right now!