Black Australorpe x Americauna chick, or...?

[pyralis]

So my husband and I keep a flock of about 17 hens and one rooster on our farm. Mostly Black Australorpes, 2 Barred Rocks, 2 laying Americaunas and 3 young Americaunas, 2 RIRs.

We had one Black Australorpe (BA from here on out), that is VERY broody. After months of taking the eggs away from her I felt like letting her hatch a few if she could.

August 8th I stopped taking eggs away, and the eggs she had at that point were 2 days old. She started with 2-3 blue eggs from our white Americauna hen, and 2 brown eggs I'm 90% certain belong to the broody BA. Our ONLY rooster is a beautiful BA.

Today, 8/27/13, we had three chicks hatch sooner than I expected! All three are black with white points. Does anyone have any experience with a BA/Americauna cross? Do you think these are pure BA (from the brown eggs), or do you think these could be crosses? I will check the nest to be sure which eggs hatched after posting this.

I'm curious if anyone knows of any sex-linked traits I could look for in regards to sexing, or if I'll have to wait and see what they grow into. Also if anyone else has had a similar cross, what did your chicks look like? What color eggs do you think they'll lay if they're girls?

Pictures of ONE of the three chicks:

 

[donrae]

No sex linkage from the crosses you're describing. If you'd set some of the barred rock's eggs you'd have black sex links, but I'm not seeing that here.

Those chicks look like Aussies to me. If they were a mix you'd see darker legs, for one, and mixed combs.

 

[pyralis]

Thank you! I'll keep an eye out to see if any hatch with darker legs. If I get any different color patterns I'll post those too. I guess it's possible an egg or two belong to a barred rock, but I've never seen them lay in this nest. Thinking you're right and these are probably Aussies.