Identifying the Breed of Chickens

iustin · Jun 2, 2020

I am trying to identify the breeds of these chicks I have.

I bought some eggs and were told that the chicks could possibly purebred but most likely be a mix of the list below.

The roosters include One Blue Australorp and one Buff Orpington.
The hens include Blue Australorp, Buff Orpington, Lavender Orpington, Silver Laced Wyandotte, Copper Marran,Barred Rock, Dominique, Road Island Red, Dorking, Leghorn, Jersey Giant, Rainbow Ranger, Welsummer, Rainbow Rangers and Dark Cornish.

I had my own guesses but thought it'd be fun to hear what the chicken experts think. Have fun!

Chick #1

Chick #2

Chick #3

Chick #4 (This chick has fluffy cheeks)

Chick #5 (This chick has fluffy cheeks)

Chick #6 (This chick has feathers coming in on its feet and its comb looks
to be a pea comb)

Chick #7

Chick #8

Chick #9

Chick # 10 (I have 3 of these chicks and they are the smallest of the bunch)

Chick #11

Chick # 12 (The coloring with this chick and chick #1 was the same but,
but now, this chick has darkened and has what looks to be a pea comb
as well. She is also slightly smaller than chick #1)

NatJ · Jun 17, 2020

iustin said:
I should’ve mentioned in the beginning. My bad!
I had blues, browns, pinks, whites and speckled dark browns. I also had couple olive ones but I can’t remember if any of them hatched.

Ah, then there must have been some Easter Eggers among the mothers. That explains the puffy cheeks! (And maybe some of the pea combs as well.) The breed list did not have any breeds with muff/beard, and only one breed with pea comb (Dark Cornish), but this makes more sense

Almost any of the chicks could have an Easter Egger mother, because Easter Eggers can come in any colors. And for the egg colors you mention, it's likely that some of the mothers are not purebreds, either. So that makes this guessing even less sure...

Guess on a few more of them:

#1 and #12 (blues)--at least one parent of each is a Blue Australorp.
#12, previously identified as having a pea comb, could have Blue Australorp father and Dark Cornish or Easter Egger for mother

#4, #5, #7, #8, #9, #10
Probably all have Buff Orpington father (unless there's another rooster, that isn't on that list.)
Mothers probably from Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, Rainbow Ranger, Welsummer, maybe Dark Cornish, maybe Copper Marans, definitely Easter Egger

#5 (puffy cheeks)--Easter Egger mother

#7 may be a pure Buff Orpington?
#8 maybe a Rhode Island Red mother?
#9 maybe Rainbow Ranger mother?
#10 maybe Welsummer mother? Or Rainbow Ranger?
(or Easter Egger for any of them)

#6 has only a few feathers on the legs, so it might have "clean legged" parents. Sometimes chickens grow a few feathers anyway, without having a feather-legged parent. Otherwise, I expect there's a maran parent, because that's the only breed on the list that is sometimes supposed to have any feathers on the legs. Or, of course, there could be more breeds that were involved but were not listed

Considering the pea comb of #6, I think it probably has either a Dark Cornish or an Easter Egger mother. Given the color pattern, I think probably Easter Egger (because I would not expect that from a Dark Cornish.) Maybe the Buff Orpington father, because I would expect a Blue Australorp to produce mostly Blue chicks and Black chicks, with any hen.

#2 I still think has a Barred Rock mother, although there's a chance it's the Dominque--chicks from a Dominique should have a rose comb, which that chick does not, although some rose comb chickens do produce some single comb offspring.

Of course, these are all guesses

oldhenlikesdogs · Jun 2, 2020

It can sometimes be hard to tell purebred from mixed, especially when young. I would assume they are all mixed.

How old are they? I see a lot of big combs.

NatJ · Jun 2, 2020

#2 has a Barred Rock mother (barring + single comb). He is a cockerel--because a hen passes barring only to her sons, and because of how red his comb is. Either rooster could be his father.

#4 and #5 have me puzzled with their fluffy cheeks, because I don't see any breeds on the list that should have fluffy cheeks.

#6 pea comb should have a Dark Cornish mother. But neither rooster should have feathered feet, so this bird must somehow have 2 mothers

#12 blue with pea comb should have Blue Australorp father, Dark Cornish mother.

iustin · Jun 2, 2020

oldhenlikesdogs said:
It can sometimes be hard to tell purebred from mixed, especially when young. I would assume they are all mixed.

How old are they? I see a lot of big combs.

They are about 3 weeks old.