Help with breeds

[busyteacher]

I had four chicks hatch out the last few days and I am trying to decide which breeds they are. Of course they hatched out over night so I couldn't see who came out of which egg. All were fertilized from a Buff Orpington rooster and either an EE, BO, Australorp or BR hen laid them! Any thoughts about who is from what hen would be appreciated. Thanks.

This chick hatched from a dark tan speckled egg.

This little one was one of two to hatch overnight so he either hatched out of a blue/green egg or a light cream colored egg. It kinda has a dark patch on the back of its head.

This one also hatched overnight. It either came out of the blue/green egg or the cream colored egg.

This one also hatched from a dark brown speckled egg.

 

[FarmCoe]

They are sooo cute!

Sorry, can't help you with the breeds...

 

[NovaAman]

Mutts... Thats the breed... CUTE little mutts! lol

 

[busyteacher]

Thanks FarmCoe! Yes they are very cute and so fluffy!!!

Thanks NovaAman! I know they are cute little mutts but just thought if there was some way to figure out what kind of mutt they were it would be nice. Not that it matters as we have been very pleased with the egg laying ability of all the mentioned breeds that we have. Our only real problem is that our lone remaining BO has become VERY broody so she is currently hatching us out some more babies!

 

[BovieVei]

Post pictures when they grow up and people will be able to help you more with the breeds

 

[HighNDryFarm]

I'd say #2 is from the EE and #3 from the BO (so they're not all mutts

) . The other two confuse me because none of the breeds you mention lay a dark, speckled egg and have chicks that dark red, unless the color is coming through my screen wrong or the BO Roo diluted the black on the Australorp, but those chicks usually have a lot of white on thier chest. Are you sure your hens are pure breeds?

 

[Cowgirl71]

Here are my guesses for the dam's breed...

1 - Do any of your EE hens lay brown eggs? Assuming the answer is no, then this chick is either Barred Rock or Black Australorp. Either way, it's probably a girl. You may never know which breed hen it was, cause both crosses, if it's a girl, will mature to be the same color. A BO x BA boy will mature to be white/black (I highly doubt a chick this color would mature to be predominantly white, but I'm not 100% sure). A BO x BR boy would mature to be barred or crele (your chick is definitely not a BR boy, cause there's no white).
2 - Easter Egger (poofy cheeks)
3 - Buff Orpington
4 - Barred Rock (I've hatched a bunch of Buff Orpington/Barred Rock cross chicks, which is a Sexlink cross). Yours is a girl!

Here's a few pics of my Buff Orpington/Barred Rock cross pullets (which look nearly identical to pics I've seen of Buff Orpington/Black Australorp cross pullets).
As chicks (far left and 2nd from the right):

As laying pullets:

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Love the BO/BR cross! I've never seen that cross, they're beautiful!!!!!

So question, why do you think 1 and 4 aren't from the same hen? They look almost identical.

 

[brahmakid11]

they are so cute!!!

 

[Cowgirl71]

Quote:
Thanks!

#1 and #4 could be from the same hen. I've only seen pics of BO x BA pullets and roosters (never hatched them myself or saw pics of them as chicks), and the mature pullets look practically identical to my BO x BR pullets. So I would assume they would look very similar as chicks. So I'm 99% sure that #1 is a pullet, and either BA or BR. From the pics I've seen, I would guess that you'll probably never know exactly which cross it was.

On second thought, #4 could actually possibly be Australorp too, IDK. I just assumed BR cause she looks SO similar to the chicks I've hatched. But either way, it's girl!

Congrats Busyteacher! You've got at least 2 girls out of the bunch!

Could you post pics as they mature, say in another 6 weeks?