First chicks! Any ideas on breeds/sex? I was told that two came from olive colored eggs and the third is a maran- but they didn’t specify a type.

[Ohsrsly]

 

[MountainWoman73]

The marans is either black marans, cuckoo marans, or black copper marans. And the others would be olive eggers, a general term for mixes that have both blue and brown egg genes. They could lay brown eggs, too, depending on whether they inherited the blue egg gene from mom. Based on their looks they could be marans mixes as well, which is the best kind of olive eggers, in my opinion.

The good news about marans is that the boys tend to comb up pretty early, so you'll be able to tell about gender sooner rather than later. But not yet!

 

[Ohsrsly]

The marans is either black marans, cuckoo marans, or black copper marans. And the others would be olive eggers, a general term for mixes that have both blue and brown egg genes. They could lay brown eggs, too, depending on whether they inherited the blue egg gene from mom. Based on their looks they could be marans mixes as well, which is the best kind of olive eggers, in my opinion.

The good news about marans is that the boys tend to comb up pretty early, so you'll be able to tell about gender sooner rather than later. But not yet!

She said that the two olive eggers could potentially have been fathered by a barred rock, but wasn’t sure. I’d love them to be maran mixes though!

 

[NatJ]

She said that the two olive eggers could potentially have been fathered by a barred rock, but wasn’t sure. I’d love them to be maran mixes though!

Two of the chicks are barred, so they probaby are your Olive Eggers, and they probably do have the Barred Rock for their father. Each of them has a light dot on top of the head, and is getting white lines across some of the black feathers.

The other chick does not look barred. It does not have a light dot on top of the head and does not have white stripes across the feathers. It does have some white feathers in the wings, but that is common in black chicks, and usually goes away by the time the chick grows up. That chick also has some feathers on the feet, and is probably your Marans. I'm guessing Black Marans, or possibly Black Copper Marans.

Do you know if the breeder had the Marans in a pen by themselves, without other breeds? If all the breeds were in one pen, you likely have a Marans-mix rather than a pure Marans. The chicks from olive eggs may be Olive Eggers, or they may just lay green eggs (not dark enough to be called olive) or they may lay brown eggs, depending on which genes they inherited from each parent. You won't know the egg color for sure until they start laying.

I don't have any guesses on the sex yet. That will have to wait until they are older.

There are a few kinds of mixed chicks that can be sexed by color when they hatch, but that will not work with yours. (For any chick: if they look mostly black, and the father might be a Barred Rock, they are definitely not color-sexable.)

 

[wrathsfarm]

Yay for anything Marans.. congrats on your cuteness.