Another 'Rare Exotic' bird thread. Can you tell?!

[Jazor]

Hey everyone,

I've also got a Murray McMurray hatchery order that came with a "rare exotic" bird. I'll fill in some of the blanks by saying my order was for 10 barred rock, and 6 red star. The red stars are all present and accounted for, which means the mystery bird was one of the black chicks I had. Took a few days to even find one that looked different from the others. From everything I can tell, it's potentially a maran or a barred rock cockerel but I'm new to chicken keeping and unfamiliar with breeds (and sexing of birds).

I'll dump photos of the bird in question:

Photo at about a week old






Below are at about 2 weeks old (just under two weeks)












Anyone have ideas?

 

[itspebbl]

Can you get a pic of its comb?

 

[donrae]

My guess would be Marans, I'd think that would be the "rare" breed from them. It shouldn't be a rock, they're not rare even by McMurray standards. I do think they consider Dominiques rare, but that chick appears to have a straight comb.

 

[itspebbl]

Yeah, i was wondering whether it was a Dominique

 

[Kelsie2290]

Does he have whiter/pinker legs than the other ones that should be BR? The marans should have white/pink legs and the BR yellow/black, when the adult feathers come in, the BR usually have crisper barring and the marans looks fuzzy.

 

[Veer67]

Does he have whiter/pinker legs than the other ones that should be BR? The marans should have white/pink legs and the BR yellow/black, when the adult feathers come in, the BR usually have crisper barring and the marans looks fuzzy.

x2, its probably a Cuckoo Maran I don't see a rose comb.

 

[Jazor]

Ok, so we're leaning towards maran! Good work so far, guys, and thanks for the advice!

As far as the legs/shanks go, they are seeming to be mostly yellow and black. I will try and take a few more photos this afternoon, but this bird is also the most flighty of the flock. I'm having a tough time getting much chance to pick this bird up, and even tougher to get a quality photo. I'll see what I can do!

Once we've established a solid breed, I'll ask for pointers on sexing. Aside from "see if it lays eggs, or crows" I don't really know what to look for yet.

Cheers,
Jazor

 

[Jazor]

Can you get a pic of its comb?

I'll try to get a better photo of the comb. Got tied up last night, couldn't quite get any photos of the BIQ (Bird In Question) so I'll have to work on this. The comb looks similar to the other Barred Rocks though, small, straight, and has ridges. I'll keep posting until we've got a definitive answer--if it's a cockerel it will need to be re-homed.