11 Week Easter Egger - mixed signals

[eclectic-em]

The male specific feathering needs more time to grow out, I think. The chick's comb is redder than its sibling though, and that's usually a sign that it's a potential boy

It would be nice if the breeder had a list of what breeds they keep. Maybe we would get a better idea of what he could be. @eclectic-em, did the breeder mention what breeds they had, or was it just totally random mix eggs?


He does have a small beard--there are some dark feathers under his chin. I think you are right about him still growing his beard out, because muffs and beards are linked and you can't have one without the other. He also probably has only one copy of the beard and muff gene, giving him smaller beard and muffs.

totally random. it was from my pet chicken lol i know i got fertile eggs and he was the only one to hatch. the add on “mystery eggs”. they said they don’t keep track of it and even if they did the breeder might not have known what it was which is why they sold it as a mystery?

so in review:
beard / muff but probably just 1 copy of the gene
cushion comb (which someone else said is a mix of pea and rose)
sex link gold leakage

i think that’s some pretty solid info to narrow things down. i know it doesn’t really matter but it’s just so interesting!!

 

[eclectic-em]

He does look like a cockerel to me. His comb is a cushion comb.

thank you!! see i just discovered all the types of combs last night googling it when i realized it wasn’t what i was expecting. any idea where it would come from?

 

[Johnny17]

I also think cockerel

 

[eclectic-em]

Being and EE, he could have just gotten the lucky mix of genetics that gave him a cushion comb. Or maybe his has some more breeds than just EE in him. Cushion combs have pea comb genes, rose comb genes, and smooth comb genes, so he maybe he got the rose comb genes from another breed (because EEs already have pea comb genes).

oh thank you this makes a lot of sense! i didn’t know the cushion combs had pea and rose comb genes! so cool

 

[FuzzyCritters]

But I'm pretty sure there's one type of white plumage that can also leak gold, but I don't remember which one it is...

Yup! Dominant white turns all black pigment, including all black based colors (chocolate, lavender, blue, etc.), to white, while red pigment is only lightened a bit. A good example is a commercial red sex link. The white hackle and tail, along with the light shade of red, is caused by dominant white.

 

[Eelantha]

Yup! Dominant white turns all black pigment, including all black based colors (chocolate, lavender, blue, etc.), to white, while red pigment is only lightened a bit. A good example is a commercial red sex link. The white hackle and tail, along with the light shade of red, is caused by dominant white.

Thank you for the specification! Does OP's EE look 'dominant white' gold leakage or 'sex-linked' gold leakage to you? (Is there a visual difference between both kinds of gold leakage?)

 

[InterestingChickens]

By those pictures he dose seem to have a beard, but no muffs.

 

[Eelantha]

I'm guessing his mom was an EE, but his dad is a different breed because of his white legs and cushion comb (not common in EEs). It's too bad there are no breed tests for chickens yet

I suspected sex-linkage too, and it's nice to see my hunch confirmed The best breed test that can be done is to have the breeder keep track of which birds he breeds together, so whoever buys the resulting chicks knows what the parents are if they want more of that cross.

@InterestingChickens - the muffs are on the sides of the chicken's cheeks, while the beard sprouts over the throat. I spotted cheek feathers but no throat feathers on OP's EE, so that's why I said Araucana over Ameraucana for a possible parent xD (then again, ten weeks old is still young, maybe the EE hasn't fully grown its beard yet.)

@sourland - What makes you think the EE is a pullet? Is it its eyes?

 

[eclectic-em]

If he hatched from a green shell, that makes him at the very least an F2 cross.... unless the Araucana or Ameraucana hen that laid his egg came from a line that laid green eggs instead of blue ones. Green-laying purebred Ameraucanas are something that's frequent enough in Canada that I look twice at their breeders before buying chicks, but if you're in the USA it shouldn't be too much of a problem, as they prefer their girls to lay blue.

Gold leakage happens most often in sex-linked crosses, in the male chicks. But I'm pretty sure there's one type of white plumage that can also leak gold, but I don't remember which one it is...

I wish I could help you more with finding the possible parentage of your cockerel. Maybe you could post pictures of your EE on this thread? His parentage may be unknown, but if someday someone posts pictures of an EE matching yours and knows what chicken breeds went behind its creation, that could potentially solve your mystery

this has already helped so much! and it makes me feel a bit more sane knowing he’s just a mystery and not me just not searching hard enough.

also this was his egg.. don’t worry about why i have it still LOL (ok it is going in epoxy bc i love george).

and then like a week or two old

and i wanna say ~4 weeks

just if any of these tell you anything else about him!

he is gorgeous and if he and sophie make a few chicks i wouldn’t be mad but they’d be one heck of a mixture lol

 

[eclectic-em]

Do you still have the files! This is amazing! I want my hens to be "fem-hen-ists" too!

This thread reminded me to print them, make "frames" from scrapbook paper, little art labels in the corner and laminate them for the coop

Rhosa-Island (White) Franklin.

Katie Poultry and her iconic whiteboard.

Yes.. that is their actual hair I edited onto the chickens. No I have no valid explanation for why I am the way I am LOL. Post pics if you hang these for your little fem-hen-ists!