chick color ?

[Megs]

i have a pair of black cochin bantams, most of the chicks i get out of them are black with a bit of white, and they have generally blacked out as the got older (with the exception of a few that were still black & white when i sold them at 6 weeks)

i have a few 4 week olds at the moment and one looks mottled, i have 3 from this hatch and 2 are black with white but the third actually has the mottled white coloring on its chest, i am wondering if my black cochin pair had some mottled coloring in their lineage somewhere could they throw a certain ammount of mottled offspring? or will this one black out like the others eventually (im keeping it for now so i will find out eventually)

 

[tadkerson]

The chicks could be mottled or are heterozygous for mottling. It is not unusual for chicks that carry one mottling gene to show mottling in the juvenile feathers but will loose the mottling when they put on the black adult plumage. With the chick having a white head, neck etc., I would say it is mottled.

I guess you will have to wait and see what happens.

Tim