Help a newbie identify who lays what?

[ontheridge]

Hello! I have my first ever little flock of 6 chickens. I got them in early summer and they just started laying a couple of weeks ago. So far, I'm getting about 3 eggs a day, colors being either very dark brown & speckled, a more medium brown, or a lighter 'tan'ish color (the three colors are in the photo below). The chicks were sold to me as 3 barred rock, 1 marans, and 2 welsummer, but I've been doing some research and have since come to the conclusion that I really got 2 welsummer, 3 cuckoo marans and 1 "mutt." (I put some of the girls' photos on here too so you can weigh in on what they are if you'd like.) I was told by someone that the "mutt" is laying all the lighter colored ones... but that would mean she is WAY out laying the others. Thoughts?

 

[sourland]

The 'mutt' is a black sex link, and she is probably laying daily or just about so. I would tend to attribute the really dark eggs to the Marans and the medium brown eggs to the Welsummer.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

The 'mutt' is a black sex link, and she is probably laying daily or just about so. I would tend to attribute the really dark eggs to the Marans and the medium brown eggs to the Welsummer.

x2 on the Black Sex Link hen

My Welsummers lay eggs just like your very darkest speckled ones. Welsummers do tend to lay speckled eggs from my very limited experience with them (I have had a total of 4 of them through the years).

I have never had Cuckoo Marans- so I don't know what their eggs look like.

 

[ontheridge]

x2 on the Black Sex Link hen

My Welsummers lay eggs just like your very darkest speckled ones. Welsummers do tend to lay speckled eggs from my very limited experience with them (I have had a total of 4 of them through the years).

I have never had Cuckoo Marans- so I don't know what their eggs look like.

Wow, Black Sex Link? That's the first anyone's mentioned that -- the other thread I was posting on just kept saying "mutt." It sounds like regardless of whether the Welsummers or the Marans are laying the speckled ones, both would lay very dark eggs, leaving all those light ones to my potential Black Sex Link? Geesh, she really is earning her keep!! Could either of you tell me if there are any specfics I can look for to tell for sure that she's a Black Sex Link?

Here she (in the middle) when I got her.



And here she is from another angle.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have two black sex links, look just like her. Cross between Rhode Island Red and Barred Rock, I believe. They are also called "Black Stars."

They lay medium brown eggs or lighter brown eggs, not sure which since their eggs are mixed in with my other birds. I would guess your lighter brown ones may be hers. They are VERY good egglayers.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKSexLink.html

 

[CCCCCCCCHICKENS]

light brown-brown sex link
dark brown-marans
dark with speckles-welsummers

 

[donrae]

Are they all hatchery birds?

I agree she looks like a black sex link. They're a high production hybrid that lay like crazy, usually light brown eggs. But if you're getting more than one a day, she's not that good lol. If that's the case, maybe one of your Marans is a rock?

 

[ontheridge]

Are they all hatchery birds?

I agree she looks like a black sex link. They're a high production hybrid that lay like crazy, usually light brown eggs. But if you're getting more than one a day, she's not that good lol. If that's the case, maybe one of your Marans is a rock?

I guess that's a key point, are my three Marans REALLY Marans? If they are, in fact, Barred Rocks then they'd be laying the light eggs and Cruella could be laying the medium, leaving the specked darks as the Welsummers. Geesh, I'm confused. We got the chicks at our local co-op and were told we got 1 marans, 2 welsummer and 3 rocks... but the black and white gals that we thought were rocks are more spotty than barred and their leggs are whitish (not yellow), so I assumed the employee made a mistake and we really got 3 marans... is this making sense? Here's one of those gals... Barred Rock or Maran?? The three of these gals look identical, so they are all the same whatever they are.



My husband and I are going to start tracking which color eggs we get each day, bc like you said, if there are more than one of the light eggs a day, it can't be Cruella (our 'Black Sex Link'/ mystery hen).

 

[ontheridge]

I totally forgot to mention/ask... some of the "light" eggs have a pinkish hue, vs more of a straight brown/tan. (It's a very subtle difference.) If Cruella is a Black Sex Link and she is laying all of the light eggs, would they very in color like this from day to day? Or is this a clue that the light eggs are coming from more than one hen? (If you look really close on the photo I posted, you can kinda see the color difference in the light eggs - but it's hard to show on a photo.)

 

[nakstk]

^^^^This is what I was going to say too.