Barred chick without head spot?

[Farrier]

Hi guys, I've been lurking this site for ages and learning a lot from you all. My mother hatched chicks for the first time last week and we are having a debate about gender that I hope you can help me clear up. The Chicks are barnyard mixes but we know that three came from cream legbar eggs (I'm in the UK so they are common). Now my theory is that since they are legbar × they should be sex linked barred. Two hatched chipmunk colour, one with a head spot and one without, and one blue without a head spot. So the two without should be female, correct? However the chipmunk without the head spot now seems to be developing barred feathers! Is that possible? (Sorry for the incredibly long post)

 

[popsicle]

If you don't have any barred roosters, then any chicks hatched with a head spot should indeed be cockerels.

Is it possible that the chick with the surprise barring had a head spot that wasn't obvious? Maybe it was so tiny, diffuse or lost in light down that it wasn't noticed.

 

[familyfarm1]

popsicle has given you good advice!

 

[Farrier]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not actually certain about the roosters, they were hatching eggs from a guy local to my parents. The only barred birds that he told mum he had were the legbars though, and I know they aren't purebred because they have feathered feet! The chick has almost black chipmunk stripes, but its head is more of a mahogany colour. Could that be the head spot?

 

[donrae]

No, the head spot should be white.

Is the "barring" white? Folks often get chicks with black/brown bars of color on new plumage and think that's barring. Any pics of the birds?

 

[Farrier]

Thanks Donrae. The barring is brown/black but there could be some white also. I'm working in Sweden at the moment, so I have only seen (slightly blurry!) photos so far, not the actual chicks. Will try to post some pics but I might be too new!

 

[Farrier]

The chick in questionhttp://s1289.photobucket.com/user/L...0141117_202244021_resize_zps337f52c8.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

 

[donrae]

I get an error when I try to enlarge it, but it looks more like a partridge-ish pattern, not barring. I'd bet that's a pullet. Would love to see pics around 8 weeks!

 

[Farrier]

Thanks! I really hope that this one is a pullet, we can only keep one cockerel so praying that most of the five are female (unlikely I know!). I will try to update the pic at 8 weeks. They grow so fast, she looks less barred already!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

If you don't have any barred roosters, then any chicks hatched with a head spot should indeed be cockerels.

Is it possible that the chick with the surprise barring had a head spot that wasn't obvious? Maybe it was so tiny, diffuse or lost in light down that it wasn't noticed.

x2