Interesting surprise Japanese Bantam chick

[TheChickenFanatic]

Definitely weird.

At this point, the only "useful" things I can think of are to watch how this one grows, and see if any others appear in later hatches Sometimes the answer is obvious at some point later, and sometimes it never is.

Okay, I'll definitely keep you updated! Thank you so much for your time spent helping me!! I really do appreciate it.

 

[Amer]

So only two hens and 1 rooster that could possibly be the parents, and you got one odd chick with 50+ normal chicks. Hmm.

I think that could point to a combination of several recessive genes working together. Or perhaps a new mutation, but that seems pretty unlikely.

If it was something as simple as one recessive gene carried by one hen and the rooster, it should have shown up in several of the chicks by the time you have this many.

I wonder if one of your immature males has started mating with hens? If this is one of his first chicks, you may see more soon, which might make it easier to figure out what is going on.


Is there any chance that one of the parents is actually dark blue instead of black?

It's definitely not dark blues responsible
Blue always messes up the barring so I think it would be pretty obvious

Not the best picture, but here's my breeding pair:
View attachment 4092470

Mature roo:
View attachment 4092471

A roo from my bachelor pen (not currently breeding him):
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Some offspring I have hatched:
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More offspring as chicks (with a blue silkie up front):
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Are you getting black offspring out of the pen? I'm wondering because two of the three males seem to have only one copy of barring. I think the light colored chick is a two copies of an expression of "light barring" like I have in my d'Anvers.

All of the male d'Anver Dominique crosses in the pen (ignore Ameraucanas and whatever) had two copies of barring but you can see one is way lighter but it looks too dark for lavender, imo.
This chick was bluish as a baby also, but not with a solid white head as far as I can recall.

 

[Amer]

Years ago I had a pure cuckoo d'Anvers pair and I don't have any remaining full pictures of the male who unfortunately died not long after I got him but you can see he was a light color and a lot of other d'Anvers males I saw the guy selling were a lighter color also

 

[TheChickenFanatic]

Here are some updated pictures of the chick. Let me know your thoughts. I know the chick is young and the feathers will change a bit, but thought I'd share some new pictures.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Here are some updated pictures of the chick. Let me know your thoughts. I know the chick is young and the feathers will change a bit, but thought I'd share some new pictures.
View attachment 4093214View attachment 4093215View attachment 4093216

It is feathering out barred.

 

[TheChickenFanatic]

It is feathering out barred.

It's a blue barred, right? Or maybe even lavender?

 

[MysteryChicken]

It's a blue barred, right? Or maybe even lavender?

To dark for lavender.
I wonder if it's something like Smoky.

 

[Amer]

It's a blue barred, right? Or maybe even lavender?

This is the darkest lavender cuckoo on google. I guess it could be possible, even though it looks very dark for a lavender.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...vender-cuckoo-orpingtons.950563/post-15999118

Personally, I still think it has whatever my chick had, which I think was a weirdly light expression of barring but I'm not sure

 

[TheChickenFanatic]

Okay, so it's a dark lavender cuckoo? I love Lavender Cuckoos, so I think I might want to continue this line. One of you mentioned the possibility it could be a mutation. Should I breed it? If so, what should I breed it to? What would I get if I bred this one to a regular Barred JB?

 

[NatJ]

I think I might want to continue this line. One of you mentioned the possibility it could be a mutation. Should I breed it? If so, what should I breed it to? What would I get if I bred this one to a regular Barred JB?

It is always possible for something to be a new mutation. But it is much more likely that it is not new genes, just genes that you didn't know your birds had. Or genes that are expressing in a slightly different way than usual. I think it's still a bit too early to be sure of what is going on, but it's fun to suggest ideas and see how they do or don't correspond with how the chick looks as it grows.

When it grows up, if you want to breed more of the same, try breeding it to the opposite-sex parent. It's own father or mother probably has whatever genes caused this coloring in this chick, so you've got a reasonable chance of getting a few more like it. And of course you can hatch more eggs from the same parents while you wait for this one to grow, and see if you get any more with this coloring.