11 Week Easter Egger - mixed signals

[FuzzyCritters]

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?

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).

 

[Folly's place]

Definitely a cockerel. It's obvious next to that pullet; thicker legs, pointed hackle feathers, and the comb and wattles. And he's good looking!
Mary

 

[eclectic-em]

Definitely a cockerel. It's obvious next to that pullet; thicker legs, pointed hackle feathers, and the comb and wattles. And he's good looking!
Mary

right? when i got her they were ~8 weeks and the difference was even way more obvious. but on another group i asked they were like “the EE could have a giant breed in it and it’s just a big pullet” lol. but i will tell georgie you said he is good looking, thank you

 

[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

 

[Eelantha]

TLDR: i have 3 questions about this dude
-does his pattern or coloring look like any particular type of breed he may have been crossed with?
-is he really a he?
-why is his comb so flat and smooth? and not just if he is a pullet, even if so, it seems different.

1) His pattern and coloring does not look like any kind of breed I know of.
2) I'm pretty sure that's a cockerel. His face looks quite red for his age, compared to the pullet's.
3) x2 for everyone that's said he has a cushion comb!

From what I can see, your EE has muffs but no beard. An Araucana might have been used to make him instead of an Ameraucana, as all F1 & F2 crosses I have seen carry the full muff/beard assembly when Ameraucanas are used to make the cross. Gold leakage in a white bird usually has more chances of happening in a cockerel than a hen (especially if it's a sex-linked cross), so unless your boy is a late bloomer, he'll eventually crow ^^

 

[eclectic-em]

1) His pattern and coloring does not look like any kind of breed I know of.
2) I'm pretty sure that's a cockerel. His face looks quite red for his age, compared to the pullet's.
3) x2 for everyone that's said he has a cushion comb!

From what I can see, your EE has muffs but no beard. An Araucana might have been used to make him instead of an Ameraucana, as all F1 & F2 crosses I have seen carry the full muff/beard assembly when Ameraucanas are used to make the cross. Gold leakage in a white bird usually has more chances of happening in a cockerel than a hen (especially if it's a sex-linked cross), so unless your boy is a late bloomer, he'll eventually crow ^^

thank you SO so much for this info!!

yeah i haven’t seen anything similar to him online which is why i asked and he was a “mystery” egg i hatched and everyone said EE bc green shell but he didn’t even look like a typical EE (i know they’re just a big mix but you know the lil cuties with the eyeliner)
ohhh so he’s a “gold leakage” color? thank you! i haven’t been able to describe him really.

i just love what a confusing mystery my dude has been even though it drives me crazy. i’ve looked into genetic testing bc i’m that obsessed with him but they only do parentage genetic testing for pigeons, not chickens

 

[Eelantha]

thank you SO so much for this info!!

yeah i haven’t seen anything similar to him online which is why i asked and he was a “mystery” egg i hatched and everyone said EE bc green shell but he didn’t even look like a typical EE (i know they’re just a big mix but you know the lil cuties with the eyeliner)
ohhh so he’s a “gold leakage” color? thank you! i haven’t been able to describe him really.

i just love what a confusing mystery my dude has been even though it drives me crazy. i’ve looked into genetic testing bc i’m that obsessed with him but they only do parentage genetic testing for pigeons, not chickens

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

 

[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?)

 

[FuzzyCritters]

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?)

Sex linked gold leakage. He has black on his face and tail, so it can't be dom. white. Dominant white doesn't actually leave red leakage, it just doesn't change red pigment to white. Sex linked gold leakage is real leakage and appears as pale yellow like in this EE.