Comb questions

[NatJ]

Also my first 3 chicks (lemon hen x silver rooster who might be carrying lemon or not) appear silver (2 others haven’t hatched yet) and I was wondering if they could appear silver as chicks but later on develop the yellow hue (lemon)? Or if I can automatically disqualify them as being lemon?

I would assume that they are just silver? Meaning my roo would only be carrying silver or either just gave his silver side to these chicks and I was unlucky…

Asking because my lemon hen (who is the mom) had the gold appearance when she hatched (silver chicks hatch as grey, white, and black while gold/lemon chicks hatch as black with an orange face)

I don't know for sure, whether lemon can look like silver when the chicks are young.

But since your lemon hen did look gold when young, that might happen with her chicks as well. I just don't know for sure.

 

[NatJ]

Thanks for the information! @NatJ
I was just curious because at some point I might’ve incubated a pullet’s first egg. All chicks from that hatch survived and thrived so I was just trying to find out whether I had actually incubated a pullet’s first egg successfully or not.

Yes, you might have incubated a pullet's first egg and had a healthy chick hatch from it. It is definitely possible, just a little less likely with first eggs than with later eggs.

 

[CashewVulture]

I don't know for sure, whether lemon can look like silver when the chicks are young.

But since your lemon hen did look gold when young, that might happen with her chicks as well. I just don't know for sure.

Huh. I guess we’ll see!

 

[CashewVulture]

Ok so here is one the 3 chicks (all from my lemon hen)

Two of them have this shade of orange. I wonder if they will grow up to be lemon when the real feathers come out
. Or if this is just “leakage” that they will outgrow? I can’t wait to find out


Also here’s a pic of my lemon hen (the biological mom of chicks) she is the one on the left

 

[NatJ]

Ok so here is one the 3 chicks (all from my lemon hen) View attachment 4154758
Two of them have this shade of orange. I wonder if they will grow up to be lemon when the real feathers come out
. Or if this is just “leakage” that they will outgrow? I can’t wait to find out


Also here’s a pic of my lemon hen (the biological mom of chicks) she is the one on the left
View attachment 4154764

I think that chick is likely to be lemon when it grows up. I can't be positive, but I think it is likely.

Leakage seems to be more common when they mature, and less common when they are young chicks. For example: black sexlink pullets may be solid black when young, but have gold in their breast when they finish growing up. Or some mixed-breed cockerels might show silver (white) and black when he is young, but also have a dark red in their shoulders as they get older.

On the other hand, Fayoumi chicks show quite a bit of brown, but grow up to show just silver and black, so the color of the chick down can be misleading. So I can't be positive what color your chick will have when it gets older.

When the chick grows some feathers, hopefully it will be clear: black & silver, or black & lemon.