I have two 6 day old chicks that I got from a woman in MD who sells eggs on eBay - she has BCM roos and standard Araucana hens - they were purchased to be brooder mates for my lonely AC hatched by me on the same date. She mentioned that the tailless one was Araucana? and the other was BCM? At what age will I be able to tell their sex and breed? Here's Smokey at 4 days old hiding behind the feeder dish Smokey at 6 days old Here's Bandit at 4 days old on the left in front of AC her 3rd brooder mate Bandit at 6 days old
Quote:If all her males are BCM and all her females are Araucana, then neither of the chicks will be of either breed -- they will both be crossbred. What you'll have would be what those on the Olive Egger thread put together, which is a cross between a blue-egg breed and a dark brown-egg breed. I'd suggest visiting that thread to learn some more. I remember Illia having some BCM X Araucana crosses, so she'd be one to ask about what to look for regarding gender.
I guess I am not understanding the question because it seems to be that they are a mix not a breed. If the roos were bcm and the hens were araucanas, none would be purebred. They would grow up to be olive eggers, which is just a cross between a dk brown egg layer and a blue egg layer. Unless what you are saying is you bought a BCM roo chick and and Araucana pullet, but at that young, I am not sure how anyone could know for certainty. With my own chicks, some when born suggest either girl or boy, but I never know for certain till they start feathering out. At about two months when they feather in you can tell fairly reliably what sex they are. Lanae
Agreed, if one parent was a BCM and another was an araucana then the result would be a mixed breed. Rumplessness is a dominant gene. Meaning if one parent is rumpless, then there is a good chance the offspring will be rumpless. It doesn't mean that the chick is more of an Araucana, just that it received an allele for rumplessness from a parent.
If they are separate purebred chicks, the Araucanas should have no tails (though some may) and should have legs turning yellow or green. The Marans should have feathered legs and tails as well as single combs (check out the comb - it should look like a sawtooth edge) If they're mixes, they should be 50/50 rumpless or tailed, have light feathered legs (sometimes just stubs) and should all have pea combs (not a sawtooth edge but instead three rows of lumps)
Thank you all for your replies - I believe they are mixes - olive eggers? I'll check for that thread to see if mine match up. Thanks again!
So what was smokey???? I hatched a similar thing. Lol she he is one day old but I haven't a clue who's the mama
Awh I haven't thought about Smokey in awhile, she was a beautiful girl. She laid a beautiful light blue green egg.
