Help me confirm which rooster is my new chicks dad!

I thought there was no way one rooster was the dad until I saw the chicks. First of all they don't look like either the mom or either rooster as chicks completely. Which I found odd but I'm new to this. One rooster died on Sept 1st. The eggs were collected from the hen on Sept 18-22. Since there had been 2 1/2 weeks since they could have mated I thought the dad was the other rooster. I'm wondering if it's possible for sperm to live 2-3 weeks? I thought I read 1 week. The hen was red and red as a baby with just the down fur. The rooster that died on the 1st was blonde with brown/black on its sides a bit but it had the two lines of a different color on its back like the new chicks do. The rooster I thought was the dad is an Easter egger mix and was blonde/grey or blueish as a chick. I'll post pictures

The Easter egger rooster that I thought was the dad and hen

The rooster that died on sept 1st


The hen as a chick- all red no color variations really

The second chick that it in focus behind first chick is the EE rooster.
I can't find a pic of the black rooster as a chick but it was blonde, brown and had the stripes on the back like the new chicks
Here are the new day old babies from the red hen and one of these roosters.


The black rooster has feathered legs so does that mean that all his chicks would have feathered legs or just 50%?
Thoughts? I would think the chicks would have been lighter with Red and the EE mixed rooster?

All the babies that are from the feather legged rooster, should have at least a little bit of feathers on their legs, your rooster has a decent amount of feathering in the legs.

And EE are just a huge mix of blood and genes so theres no knowing what his babies would look like with that to consider.

Ok Ya there are 3 and they all look the same with no feathering on legs at all. Clean legs like the hen and EE. So just with that you would lean towards the EE? He had slate/blue legs and all 3 have regular legs like the hen. Would that be a factor or do feathers on legs matter more than leg color?

The hen can retain sperm for about 3 weeks on average in some cases up to 4 weeks, she can also reject the sperm of certain roosters if she pleases...

White skin is dominant over yellow skin. But Easter Eggers can have white skin and carry a yellow skin gene, so that won't really help. The feathered legs are dominant over clean legs. The black and white rooster looks like a Dark Brahma, if purebred, then all his chicks would have feathered legs.
Your chicks look like they have muffs, which is a dominant feature from your Easter Egger boy.

Ok that makes sense. I'm not sure what muffs on a chick look like but these do have long neck hair. Is that what you see? The EE did have a beard and muffs but I don't remember noticing it as a chick

junebuggena said:

White skin is dominant over yellow skin. But Easter Eggers can have white skin and carry a yellow skin gene, so that won't really help. The feathered legs are dominant over clean legs. The black and white rooster looks like a Dark Brahma, if purebred, then all his chicks would have feathered legs.
Your chicks look like they have muffs, which is a dominant feature from your Easter Egger boy.

Click to expand...

I looked on Google and the chicks do look the the dark brahma with the coloring and two lines down the back. But they have no feathering on their legs at all. So do you think that rooster could be a part dark brahma and just not pass on the feather legged gene? It's confusing that the chicks look dark brahma but don't have feathered legs

There are many colors and patterns that start as 'chipmunk' type coloring as chicks. Those chicks look too golden/red to be a silver-based color like Dark Brahma. You won't be able to get a good idea of their coloring until after they are feathered in. When crossing different colors, all sorts of random things can pop up. I had three Easter Egger chicks that were practically identical as day old chicks. Once they grew up, two stayed very similar, and one is a completely different color (even with taking into consideration that he's a rooster).
All three as chicks, in the back.

Cocoa - a dark golden partridge type.


Snowy - a very light gold partridge pattern


King Tut- a dark red columbian pattern

junebuggena said:

There are many colors and patterns that start as 'chipmunk' type coloring as chicks.

Click to expand...

On that topic, it's called the "wild-type" gene and is predominantly seen in duckwing or partridge patterned birds,...