I don't think my RIR chicks are RIR...*pics*

[Red]

We ordered RIR eggs and hatched them out, and everything looked fine. They were gorgeous yellow fluff balls...but now they're over a week old and are growing their first feathers, and after looking at pics on here of other people's RIR chicks, ours are not the same! Their feathers are a white / cream colour, and some have very pale brown colouring on the tips.

Here are some pics...I tried to get some shots of their new feathers while they were sleeping, hope they've come out okay

Do these look like RIRs to you?! We've never had RIRs before so we haven't a clue...their feathers just don't look very 'red' to us

It doesn't matter if they aren't RIRs, we're just curious as to what breed they actually are - they're adorable either way

 

[SeaChick]

The RIRs I have had have had wing feathers that started out tan/brown/black marked.... definitely not plain creamy like yours.

Is it possible that they're "production reds" and maybe like red sex links (they'd have to be all girls though)? Our red sex link looked a bit like that...

Here's one of our RIRs:

and another younger one:

Hope this helps!

 

[gumpsgirl]

I would say, "No" on this one. They are to light colored. Maybe Buff Orpingtons? Here's a pic of my RIR's.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

look like buff orpington chicks to me. my rir babies were cinnamon colored not buff. look on the link in my siggy at my website. i have rir chic pics there. mabe that will help u. i hatched buff orp babies not long ago also so those pics mabe under my 08 nursery album. i'll look if not i can post them to show the differences.
silkie

lol, we all posted so close together, well at least u got 3 sets of pics to compair now. and yes mine were patterned on wings like described above.

 

[Cheep Mama]

We have both rir and buff orp's and I think yours look more like the orp's. They don't look like rir to me. Whatever they are, I'm sure you will love them just the same!

 

[scgamecock]

They are not Orpington's since they have yellow legs.I would say they are red sexlink's or possibly buff rocks.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

This is going to sound like a stupid theory, but oh well, here goes. I am guessing, since you got them as eggs, they are sex link. All my chickens have very distinctive eggs except for my RIR and my sex link......theirs are identical in shape, size, texture. I am willing to bet, if you were selling eggs and not 100% careful, you could get them mixed up quite easy.

 

[Red]

Wow this makes our first ever incubator hatch even more exciting - trying to work out what the little chicks are!!

Thanks for all the ideas and replies! I was thinking when i first saw the feathers they didn't much look like RIRs, but then i thought it was just me being stupid lol

We had BO chicks last year, and these chicks look kinda similar to them although their feathers don't seem golden-y enough...they vary from white, to cream, to cream with light brown markings. We got some mystery chicks!

 

[scgamecock]

If they are red sex link then you won't be disappointed if lots of large brown eggs is what you want.

 

[RebelsHope]

Your right they are too light to be RIR.