Buff Brahma X Buff Orpington - Unique chick!

Sablehaven

Songster
May 22, 2020
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For my little breeding project, I got buff orpington hens and a buff brahma rooster. The results are six beautiful, large and well laying hens with lightly feathered feet, deep gold coloring and thin columbian markings:

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20210108_171837.jpg

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And then there was Freya:

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20210108_171612.jpg

20210108_171637.jpg

Freya is about a pound lighter than her siblings, and as you can see, she has some very unusual and very pretty coloring.

She is also the last to hatch, out of three eggs I had to finish incubating in an improvised brooder made of a heating pad, a damp rag and a thermometer that woke me up four times a night to adjust the heat, for the three days it took for them to all hatch. Their momma stopped brooding after the first chicks hatched, so I checked them and finished the three living ones for her.

All of them were yellow chicks except Freya, who had brown markings, and I wish I'd taken pictures.

So, can anyone tell me why this happened? And most curiously, what would her babies look like? Will they be the same as her sister's?
 
For my little breeding project, I got buff orpington hens and a buff brahma rooster. The results are six beautiful, large and well laying hens with lightly feathered feet, deep gold coloring and thin columbian markings:

View attachment 2481696
View attachment 2481698
View attachment 2481702

And then there was Freya:

View attachment 2481755
View attachment 2482011
View attachment 2482012
Freya is about a pound lighter than her siblings, and as you can see, she has some very unusual and very pretty coloring.

She is also the last to hatch, out of three eggs I had to finish incubating in an improvised brooder made of a heating pad, a damp rag and a thermometer that woke me up four times a night to adjust the heat, for the three days it took for them to all hatch. Their momma stopped brooding after the first chicks hatched, so I checked them and finished the three living ones for her.

All of them were yellow chicks except Freya, who had brown markings, and I wish I'd taken pictures.

So, can anyone tell me why this happened? And most curiously, what would her babies look like? Will they be the same as her sister's?
Wow!!!! They're all gorgeous! I LOVE Freya! She is so pretty!
I have no idea. @NatJ @MysteryChicken @RoostersAreAwesome ?
 
For my little breeding project, I got buff orpington hens and a buff brahma rooster. The results are six beautiful, large and well laying hens with lightly feathered feet, deep gold coloring and thin columbian markings:

View attachment 2481696
View attachment 2481698
View attachment 2481702

And then there was Freya:

View attachment 2481755
View attachment 2482011
View attachment 2482012
Freya is about a pound lighter than her siblings, and as you can see, she has some very unusual and very pretty coloring.

She is also the last to hatch, out of three eggs I had to finish incubating in an improvised brooder made of a heating pad, a damp rag and a thermometer that woke me up four times a night to adjust the heat, for the three days it took for them to all hatch. Their momma stopped brooding after the first chicks hatched, so I checked them and finished the three living ones for her.

All of them were yellow chicks except Freya, who had brown markings, and I wish I'd taken pictures.

So, can anyone tell me why this happened? And most curiously, what would her babies look like? Will they be the same as her sister's?
I personally don't know but her feathering is absolutely stunning! 😍
 
I'm studying Albinism, & leucism, in chickens. She looks like a good example of a leucistic chicken. Vitiligo is a similar looking condition to PieBaldism. But are different.

What does her skin color look like? Is it patchy?


It maybe possible that she maybe just carrying Dominant White, giving her that unusual pattern.

Just need to rule stuff out before making a full determination on what's going on with your bird.

Can I see what the parents look like?
 
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For my little breeding project, I got buff orpington hens and a buff brahma rooster. The results are six beautiful, large and well laying hens with lightly feathered feet, deep gold coloring and thin columbian markings:

View attachment 2481696
View attachment 2481698
View attachment 2481702

And then there was Freya:

View attachment 2481755
View attachment 2482011
View attachment 2482012
Freya is about a pound lighter than her siblings, and as you can see, she has some very unusual and very pretty coloring.

She is also the last to hatch, out of three eggs I had to finish incubating in an improvised brooder made of a heating pad, a damp rag and a thermometer that woke me up four times a night to adjust the heat, for the three days it took for them to all hatch. Their momma stopped brooding after the first chicks hatched, so I checked them and finished the three living ones for her.

All of them were yellow chicks except Freya, who had brown markings, and I wish I'd taken pictures.

So, can anyone tell me why this happened? And most curiously, what would her babies look like? Will they be the same as her sister's?
Wow! They’re really pretty! I don’t know how that happened... do you have a light Brahma cock? It’s almost like a funny depigmentation. @nicalandia
 
For my little breeding project, I got buff orpington hens and a buff brahma rooster.
...Freya is about a pound lighter than her siblings, and as you can see, she has some very unusual and very pretty coloring.
...All of them were yellow chicks except Freya, who had brown markings
...So, can anyone tell me why this happened? And most curiously, what would her babies look like? Will they be the same as her sister's?

The most obvious explanation: she could have a different parent.
Do you have any other hens? Any other roosters?
Is there a neighbor who has a rooster that might have come visiting?
Could the hens have mated with a different rooster before you got them? There have been reports of hens storing sperm for at least 3 weeks sometimes.

If those really are her parents, I don't really know.
If you want more of that color, or just want to try to figure it out, I would try hatching more eggs from those same parents and see if you get more oddities; and I would probably try breeding Freya to her father also, to see if you get more like her.
 
@NatJ @Amer @MysteMysterychi

Well, you all asked the same question, and my buff brahma was my only rooster, my hens were gotten as chicks and my neighbors have no roosters.

I will try and get a look at her skintone tonight :)

Helios, my buff brahma, was from a supposedly high quality hatchery, but I got him from someone local. He and his siblings were text book examples of a buff brahma. His pictures are sadly buried somewhere, and he was getting fairly old and was retired to spend his days as a guard rooster :)


As for the mother, it could have been any of my ten hens, including one of Helios' first daughters. I'm not able to get a picture of them right now, but they are Tractor Supply Buff Orpingtons.

So, while I can't confirm their ancestry, I can confirm that their parents were in my flock.
 
@NatJ @Amer @MysteMysterychi

Well, you all asked the same question, and my buff brahma was my only rooster, my hens were gotten as chicks and my neighbors have no roosters.

I will try and get a look at her skintone tonight :)

Helios, my buff brahma, was from a supposedly high quality hatchery, but I got him from someone local. He and his siblings were text book examples of a buff brahma. His pictures are sadly buried somewhere, and he was getting fairly old and was retired to spend his days as a guard rooster :)


As for the mother, it could have been any of my ten hens, including one of Helios' first daughters. I'm not able to get a picture of them right now, but they are Tractor Supply Buff Orpingtons.

So, while I can't confirm their ancestry, I can confirm that their parents were in my flock.
A high quality hatchery is still a hatchery though. Does he look like a typical buff Brahma?
 

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