Hi... BIG QUESTION!!!! (please help me!)

[lizzygirl22]

So a couple days ago we got three Ameracanas supposidly, none of them were it. We found out two of the poor chicks breeds, but our remaining, Hen/Cock is still waiting to find out it's breed AND gender. It has 5 toes, sure sign of a silkie, Barely feathered feet, it has a white underside with a black top and it's growing... spurrs? I could really use all the help I could get because we can't have roosters and i don't want poor smokey to go away to some farm. So far I'm thinking, cochin,silkie and somthing else?

 

[hdowden]

spur and spur bumps can not be used to determine breed as some hens grow spurs although that is more commonly found on game hens. cant really see the comb but it does appear to be a mix of some sort with possible silkie some wheres in the background. i highly doubt with as little feathering it has on the legs that its mixed with cochin and silkie since if it was its legs would have a lot more feathers on it...wait till its about 10 weeks old to get a more accurate guess on breed(s) and gender

 

[lizzygirl22]

Thank you!

 

[Pele]

Both genders of chicken have spurs, just like both genders of humans have thumbs. Do some thumbs get more masculine after puberty? Sure. Should you inspect a person's thumbs to determine their gender? Probably not .

It would be more accurate to give your bird a couple more weeks of growth. The first signs of maleness would show in the combs and wattles (growth and redness), and in the feathers (random patchy colors showing up). If he is a boy, he might even do you a big favor and just plain start crowing. I've had boys start as early as 6 weeks!

As far as breed, I agree that he's at least part Silkie because of the black skin on the comb, and because of the 5th toe. It is very common to cross cochins with silkies, so I wouldn't be surprised. Give him/her a couple of weeks to feather out more, and post more pics from different angles, and we'll be able to tell you more

 

[lizzygirl22]

Okay, so it's only been 1-1/2 weeks since the last picture/post, but here are some updated pictures of Smokey. Still not sure what kind of mix of breeds or gender, but here are 3 new pictures....(about 5 weeks old)

Side Shot....



Front Shot....



Belly/Feet



And finally....a picture of one leg/foot with a small amount of feathers coming in....

 

[dretd]

There are a few other breeds to consider that also have 5 toes: Faverolles, Dorkings, Houdans and Sultans.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like Smokie has 5 toes, small amount of feathering on the shanks, slate/white legs/skin, straight comb, no beard no muffs.

Other characteristics to consider of these other breeds:
Silkie: black skin, sometimes beard, crest, pea comb, silkie feathers (recessive), feathered shanks
Faverolles:Feathered shanks, white skin,beard and muffs,straight comb
Dorking: white skin, straight comb
Houdan: Crested, beard, clean legs, white skin, dark shanks, V-comb
Sultan: Crested, beard and muffs, feathered shanks, white skin, V-comb

Based on the mix, I am not seeing crest or beard, no black skin, no hybrid comb. I could be wrong, look closely at the comb and feathers about the head and correct me if you see something different. I am seeing slight feathering on the shanks and a straight comb.

Based on these parameters, I am thinking a Dorking crossed with something feather-footed with a straight comb. Could be some lines of Marans, Cochins or Langshans. Langshans have slate legs and relativiely sparse leg feathering so I am going with that one as a guess: Dorking x Langshan.

If you want to learn more about breeds then I recommend to consult Hederson's breed chart:
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

and Feathersite.com http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGK/Langshan/BRKLangshan.html and http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGD/Dorks/BRKDorks.html

 

[lizzygirl22]

Thanks for the info. Here are a couple more pictures, a better one of the comb/face and one of the back, as we just noticed some brown speckles at the tips of several feathers, all at about the same distance back from the head. You can see 2 of them right above the shadow in the picture if you look hard. )

 

[dretd]

Thanks for the new pictures. I am still sticking with Langshan for the feather-footed component. In looking back to the older photo, I even think that the chick looks Langshan-ish. Did you look at the photos on feathersite to compare? What do you think?

I am not seeing any obvious boy-qualities yet, but it is too early to tell for sure.
And I totally forgot:

 

[lizzygirl22]

Thanks for the welcome.

Yes, I did finally get a chance to look at the Langshans, so now I do see the similarities. We were told that the 3 chicks we took in were probably Ameraucana varieties, but we're not seeing that at all. Smokey was one....We have a yellow chick (Suede) that is somewhat speckled and a chocolate brown speckled chick (Cocoa) with lighter brown feathers for the head and neck. They both have no feathers on their legs and each have 4 toes instead of 5.

 

[DelDels]

Someone probably had an Easter Egger rooster (they call them Ameraucanas even though they are not) and let him breed a flock of different or mixed breed hens. Cocoa and Suede show a bit of that color pattern. Right now they all look like pullets and very tame sweet ones at that. You may get some green eggs, then you will know for sure. But they may lay brown too and still be from the Easter Egger. Have fun figuring it out but most of all have fun.