3 Week Old Mystery Chicks

[SSHilltopHens]

Hey yall!

We ordered a batch of 20 sexed chicks from Hoover Hatchery's rare breed assortment a few weeks ago as a fun little winter project since we had some extra brooder space, and there are 3 that we can't seem to ID for the life of us, as they don't appear to match any of the possible breeds that can be included in the assortment.

One of them has quite a large poof on her head and has white and black feathers, while the other two have smaller poofs and are a bit darker. We thought that the three of them were all the same breed when they were smaller, but we're starting to think that the one with the larger/white poof is not be the same as the other two as they have developed quite differently.

According to Hoover's Hatchery, the breeds that could have been included in the assortment are as follows:

Partridge Plymouth Rock
Midnight Majesty Marans®
Sapphire Olive Egger™
Speckled Sussex
Blue Andalusian
Silver Lakenvelder
Cuckoo Marans
French Black Copper Marans
French Cuckoo Marans
French Wheaten Marans
Welsummer
Barnevelder
Prairie Bluebell Egger®
Starlight Green Egger™
Olive Egger
Salmon Faverolles
Cochins, Turkens
Blue Laced Red Wyandotte
Columbian Wyandotte
Light Brahma
Buff Brahma
Dark Brahma
Lavender Orpington

We've gone through pictures of every single one of these breeds as chicks and could not find a single one that looked anything like these three, so we're stumped. Is it possible that they included a few chicks that weren't actually supposed to be in the assortment? We thought that the one with the white poof could be a White Crested Black Polish, but her little poof doesn't seem to be as large as a Polish would normally have at 3 weeks old.

 

[NatJ]

Is it possible that they included a few chicks that weren't actually supposed to be in the assortment? We thought that the one with the white poof could be a White Crested Black Polish, but her little poof doesn't seem to be as large as a Polish would normally have at 3 weeks old.

I would be guessing White Crested Black Polish, regardless of what the list says. But it will probably become more obvious as time goes on.

We've gone through pictures of every single one of these breeds as chicks and could not find a single one that looked anything like these three, so we're stumped. Is it possible that they included a few chicks that weren't actually supposed to be in the assortment?

They probably could have included some chicks of other breeds. Since they call it a "rare breed" assortment, then it might be reasonable to include some of any other breed they consider "rare."

For looking at photos, also try looking at the adult photos of each breed. Since you have chicks with crests, pay attention to whether the adults in the photos have crests (because crested vs. not is often more obvious in adult photos than in chick photos.)

 

[RiDaGeckoGuy]

Hey yall!

We ordered a batch of 20 sexed chicks from Hoover Hatchery's rare breed assortment a few weeks ago as a fun little winter project since we had some extra brooder space, and there are 3 that we can't seem to ID for the life of us, as they don't appear to match any of the possible breeds that can be included in the assortment.

One of them has quite a large poof on her head and has white and black feathers, while the other two have smaller poofs and are a bit darker. We thought that the three of them were all the same breed when they were smaller, but we're starting to think that the one with the larger/white poof is not be the same as the other two as they have developed quite differently.


View attachment 3710214View attachment 3710215View attachment 3710217View attachment 3710216

According to Hoover's Hatchery, the breeds that could have been included in the assortment are as follows:

Partridge Plymouth Rock
Midnight Majesty Marans®
Sapphire Olive Egger™
Speckled Sussex
Blue Andalusian
Silver Lakenvelder
Cuckoo Marans
French Black Copper Marans
French Cuckoo Marans
French Wheaten Marans
Welsummer
Barnevelder
Prairie Bluebell Egger®
Starlight Green Egger™
Olive Egger
Salmon Faverolles
Cochins, Turkens
Blue Laced Red Wyandotte
Columbian Wyandotte
Light Brahma
Buff Brahma
Dark Brahma
Lavender Orpington

We've gone through pictures of every single one of these breeds as chicks and could not find a single one that looked anything like these three, so we're stumped. Is it possible that they included a few chicks that weren't actually supposed to be in the assortment? We thought that the one with the white poof could be a White Crested Black Polish, but her little poof doesn't seem to be as large as a Polish would normally have at 3 weeks old.

Polish chickens most likely i have chickens that were in the rare breeds bin at TSC and I ended up with a weird maran mix a French black copper maran a sapphire gem and a giant lavender Orpington this is the maran mix in the photo (ignore the barred rock she is very curious )

 

[JedJackson]

The white crested one is a white crested black Polish. I believe the other two are Crevecouers, which Hoover's has listed under 'Assorted Polish & Crested.' It's not unusual for hatcheries to include breeds that aren't listed in assortments.