Yep...that's why it was baffling me too. In a perfect world, my hatchery BO should be 100% BO. But, her plumage says NHR or RIR and her skin/legs say BO.
I just think it's more likely that someone escaped (even at a hatchery) than my little chicken has some sort of "specialness" in her genes.
Because they're so similar...I'm inclined to think it's more likely that a RIR roo paid and unauthorized visit to a BO hen and the result was Ms. Meg.
Your Meg is a lovely gal...so I have high hopes for mine.
Your chicks only look 3 weeks old or slightly less to me.
My LB chick tended to stand up really straight like a roo from the beginning. She's five weeks old now, and she's definitely a pullet. I think they just have more of a tendency to have that sort of carriage.
She was also a buff yellow chick too...not reddish at all. She didn't start turning red until her feathers came in. All the pics of RIR chicks I have seen, they are either red or brownish-red from the get go.
I agree!
This is Meg. Meg was expected to be a Buff Orpington, but has decided that she is a red chicken with a few randomly scattered white and black speckles, not a Buff Orpington. We are a bit confused, because she has white legs...and for a very long time we thought she'd just grow out of her red...
I'm really not sure. I either have two large fowl cochins and the big one is a roo...or I have one LF pullet and one bantam roo...or I have two LF pullets and the one just happens to be runty or mixed or something.
It's all a big conundrum!
They're totally rambunctious right now. We built them a little practice chicken ladder so they have an interesting challenge in the brooder.
Coco is my little glamour-puss. I named her after Coco Chanel, and she's living up to her namesake. I'm really surprised that her color is as pretty as...
One possibility I was considering was that the smaller one was a banty roo...or possibly had some sort of silkie cross breeding. Her feathers are just soooooo soft and fluffy. It's like she's growing a second round of down rather than real feathers.
This is a pair of standard red cochins. They are both supposed to be pullets, but as you can see, one is much larger than the other. The smaller of the two is "fluffier". Her new feathers are really really down-like and her tail feathers are pretty much just a giant puff of fuzz. Her feet...
I only managed to get 4 of them to calm down enough for photographs. I'm going to try with the other 4 a little later after they've eaten and are a little bit calmer.
Bunny - a Standard Red Cochin
Coco - a Barnevelder
Sookie - a Light Brahma
Kiki - my crossed beak Salmon Faverolles
I set up a tripod so the camera was just above table height. The background is a piece of packing newsprint on the table and draped over a styrofoam block to make the "back". These pictures just use an overhead light source.
If I were to do it again, I would probably use some paper that didn't...
Ah...looks are a bit deceiving. Most of my pictures have them looking bewildered...or in a blur of motion. If you have a digital camera on a tripod, it's a little easier to "catch" them in a pose because odds are if you snap 50+ shots of each chick, one of them will work.
Lulu, one of our Buff Orpingtons
Sookie, our Light Brahma
Kiki, our only Salmon Faverolles has a crossed beak, but she's still full of pep
Coco, one of our Barnevelders. She's a cuddler. That's her in my icon too.
This is Obu "the other Bunny" one of our Standard Red Cochins
This is Oco...
I got mine from Ideal too. I ordered three and re-homed two. I kept this one because she's personality plus, she seems really vigorous and she has really nice feathering on her feet.