2 roos?

[chxmama]

I have really been enjoying this forum since we are relatively new chicken owners! We have an existing flock that just started laying within the past month, but were also gifted some chicks from a school incubation project a few weeks back. Two are supposed to be easter eggers and one an olive egger. I'm really not sure which are the EE and which is the OE - no one could remember to tell us definitively and the coloring on all looks pretty similar to me. Either way, we were really hoping against all odds that we'd end up with 3 pullets, but at 6.5 weeks am pretty sure we have atleast one roo, maybe 2? Would love to hear what you all think since we are so new to this.


#1
This one is screaming roo to me. Besides the huge comb and waddle, he is also growing longish tail feathers on each side in back. Always the first to come for food, to check things out, etc. Is there any possibility he could possibly be a pullet?


#2
Thinking roo, but ?
"He" is still not fully feathered on his neck yet with some fluffy down still lingering here and there. #1 and this guy seem to enjoy sparring when out in the run.


#3
Very docile, stand back and let it happen gal. Fully feathered and not really any sort of raised comb at all.


Pics of all 3 together




Any ideas which are the EE and which is the OE?

 

[Michael OShay]

#1 is definitely a cockerel. Given the size and redness of its comb at 6.5 weeks, I think #2 is a cockerel as well. #3 looks to me like your only pullet. (

 

[chxmama]

#1 is definitely a cockerel. Given the size and redness of its comb at 6.5 weeks, I think #2 is a cockerel as well. #3 looks to me like your only pullet. (

That's what I was thinking. The kids are particularly sad about the prospect of those guys being roos, but atleast one is pullet.

Any idea which 2 might be the EE and which is the OE? It would be redeeming if #3 were the olive egg layer.
Maybe I can get some better full body pics tomorrow.
Would that help identify breed better?

 

[junebuggena]

#1 is definitely a cockerel. Given the size and redness of its comb at 6.5 weeks, I think #2 is a cockerel as well. #3 looks to me like your only pullet. (

X2

 

[Michael OShay]

That's what I was thinking. The kids are particularly sad about the prospect of those guys being roos, but atleast one is pullet.

Any idea which 2 might be the EE and which is the OE? It would be redeeming if #3 were the olive egg layer.
Maybe I can get some better full body pics tomorrow.
Would that help identify breed better?

Unless their is some physical characteristic that I can't see in the pics, they all look so similar that I think it's impossible to identify which one is the OE.

 

[junebuggena]

Regardless of gender, #3 is the only one that has a really good chance of carrying the blue egg gene. It is very rare for a single comb EE, like #1, to carry the gene needed for colored eggs. #2 has a comb that looks halfway between a pea comb and a single comb. I think that the "Olive Egger" is #1 because an Easter Egger with a recessive single comb gene crossed with a single comb Maran would give a better chance of single comb chicks. A single comb could still happen between EE and EE cross though.

 

[chxmama]

Regardless of gender, #3 is the only one that has a really good chance of carrying the blue egg gene. It is very rare for a single comb EE, like #1, to carry the gene needed for colored eggs. #2 has a comb that looks halfway between a pea comb and a single comb. I think that the "Olive Egger" is #1 because an Easter Egger with a recessive single comb gene crossed with a single comb Maran would give a better chance of single comb chicks. A single comb could still happen between EE and EE cross though.

Ok, that makes sense.

I believe the teacher in the incubating classroom recalled that the OE did hatch from an olive egg and she thought the EE from brown eggs. Could #3 actually lay a blue egg if she hatched from a brown or do odds indicate brown? I probably sound very foolish - time to start reading some on chicken genetics so I have a better idea of this all!

 

[chxmama]

Unless their is some physical characteristic that I can't see in the pics, they all look so similar that I think it's impossible to identify which one is the OE.

The only difference I notice is that the pullet has some orange breast feathers coming in. The roos seem to have darker heads?

Will they all stay evenly gray as they mature, similar to how they look now?

 

[junebuggena]

If she hatched from a brown egg, then she could have two brown egg genes, or one brown egg and one blue egg gene; depending on what was inherited. If she did get a blue egg gene, when combined with a brown egg gene, it results in green eggs being laid. There is no chance for her to lay blue.

 

[chxmama]

added a few more pics with full body shots

#1 - roo


#2 in front (#3 in back)


#3