Buff Orpington cross and mysterious black hen - help with breed IDs

[chalimar16]

Hello all! I'm a newbie chicken owner and this is my first post to BYC, although I've found it to be a great resource since our chickens hatched at the beginning of May.

My sister gave us two dozen eggs of various kinds from her farm in Baltimore. We had humidity issues so only twelve hatched, and ten survived the first week. Her flock comes from various sources, and we're trying to identify what we have.



We have seven of these, including our three roosters. We're pretty sure they're Austra White. (The rooster above is Tomo, "friend" in Japanese. So named for being the friendliest of our friendly flock.)



Above is Nero. We're not sure what breed she is. Any thoughts?



The hen above is Loudmouth, and we think she's a buff orpington. She looks just like a photo featured on the homepage a few days ago!



Above is Pheasant. She's pretty speedy and is the most stand-offish of our group. We think she's part buff orpington, but not sure what else she could be. Any thoughts?

 

[fshinggrl]

"Loudmouth" looks a little dark for a buff orpington. Mine are about the cream color on pheasant.

 

[chalimar16]

Interesting, thank you! Loudmouth is maybe not quite as dark as the photo above, as that was a bit shady. But she's definitely darker than Pheasant. (Louthmouth is an awful name for a lovely bird, but she certainly earned it during her first day in the brooder, and it stuck.)

 

[autumnhearth]

Interesting, thank you! Loudmouth is maybe not quite as dark as the photo above, as that was a bit shady. But she's definitely darker than Pheasant. (Louthmouth is an awful name for a lovely bird, but she certainly earned it during her first day in the brooder, and it stuck.)

She's pretty and has some of the look of a Buff Orp, loose feathering but that reddish shade makes me think one of her parents must have been a RIR, NH, production red or red sex-link. Any idea what breeds of hens and roosters your sister has?

 

[autumnhearth]

As for Pheasant, Barred Rock? Really any breed with barred or cuckoo markings.

 

[donrae]

If your sister has a mixed flock, you have mixed breed chicks

. I really don't see any chick that matches a breed standard. I can see influence of probably something dominant white, like a Leghorn or Rock, probably a buff Orp and maybe an Australorp, along with other breeds I can't readily identify. If you find out from your sister what breeds hens and rooster(s) she has, we can hazard a guess as to which cross made each chick, but in the end they're all still going to be mixed breed birds. Nothing wrong with mutts for a nice backyard flock!

 

[chalimar16]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've asked my sister what she has, but I haven't heard back - she's got two young children plus the farm and farmer's market she organizes, so she's pretty busy. All the animals on her farm (pigs, steer, sheep, poultry, llamas) are heritage breeds, and I know she has some buff orps, and that the maybe Austra Whites are from a neighbor's breeding experiments. I was especially curious about Pheasant, as I didn't have a name for her markings and so didn't know where to start looking. It sounds like we have a merry group of mutts, which is fine by me. It's just nice, as a newbie with a lot to learn, to have an idea of what breeds are maybe in the mix.

 

[donrae]

Pheasant does look like she could have Orpington. Those markings you see on her are common on a chick that matures in a black breasted red color, or something similar to that. In a hen it looks kinda like this color



and in a rooster it's the classic Kellogg's rooster color. But, if it were a black breasted red mixed with buff, buff is a strong dominant when mixed with other colors....so you may wind up with a really unique bird as she matures! It's hard to tell as this age what the final pattern will look like in mixed breed birds, but I'm thinking she'll be a beauty!