crossbreed chicks

[rocketdog]

I recently (10 days ago) hatched 6 chicks from 6 different hens, all bred by a dominique rooster. All of them are black with various degrees of light-colored down and white spots on their heads. As the feathers are beginning to develop, they all appear to have some dominique coloring. Should I expect them all to look like the rooster? I have one Americaun, one silver laced wyandotte, one buff orpington, maybe a white rock, and "red sex-link" hens.

 

[Outpost JWB]

We have a bunch of mixed breed chickens and more than likely, they will all be different. Congratulations on your new chicks

 

[donrae]

If your Dominique rooster is pure bred, all his offspring will have a barring gene from him. This is expressed in the chicks as a white spot on the head---that means the bird is barred, to some extent.

Black trumps a lot of other colors, so you'll get a lot of black barred chicks. The buff Orpington may give a bird with gold/buff on the throat/chest (female) or wings and saddle feathers (male), the rest of the bird black barred. Your white Rock is a wild card, they often carry barring under the dominant white, so she may give you a black barred chick also. The red sex links may make some calico colored birds, red and black with barring on top, very pretty imo.

 

[rocketdog]

I'm so excited to see what they will look like. Already seeing some "blond" on a couple of the chicks, one has black feet from the Americauna, another has a little black on its feet. Guess I will have to wait a while. I also have 2 chicks about 5 weeks old, one has definite barring already, all chicks have white spots on head to some degree. My broody doesn't seem ready for another brood, so the little ones are still in the house with heat lamp. How long do I need to keep them inside?