Black Copper Maran chick with an auburn tint on it's head.

[Terrible Speller]

I just hatched (4 days ago) almost two dozen eggs. In the bunch I had some (3) Black Copper Marans that I bought from a legitimate source. I saw her birds and she explained the blood line - but I am so new to this I can't remember all that she said. Anyways - I ended up with two hatching and they both look different. They are both have the traditional markings but one has an auburn tint on it's head and more brown in the tiny feathers on it's wings that have just started to form. At first I thought this must be a rooster, but I am totally guessing. Does anyone have a clue as to what this chick's markings mean?

 

[amazondoc]

I am *just* guessing here, so do NOT take my words as gospel.

I am GUESSING that the auburn chick does not have as many of the melanizing genes as it should.

Black copper Marans are based on the birchen gene. Then on top of that they have the gold gene, to make the light areas gold instead of silver. Then on top of THAT they have melanizing genes to make the black areas larger and blacker, AND they have the mahogany gene to make the red areas redder.

Sometimes, chicks don't get enough of the melanizers. So they may have too much red on them when they grow up, and I've even seen pics of BROWN chicks.

Let us know how he grows up!