Is it normal for australorp to have this much coloring?

[imacowgirl2]

We just had chicks hatch yesterday…is it normal to have this much light coloring on an australorp? Dad is a blue and mom is a black or blue…is this possibly a splash?

(Ignore the yellow chick, that one is a California White)

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Splash would be way lighter

 

[MysteryChicken]

It's Cuckoo/Barred. It has a headspot.

Can you get pictures of the parents?

 

[imacowgirl2]

It's Cuckoo/Barred. It has a headspot.

Can you get pictures of the parents?

Mom or mom:

And Dad:

 

[AusHen]

I agree with MysteryChicken, the chick is barred/cuckoo which none of the potential parents are. I do see you have a barred bird though in the second photo, seems there may have been a mix-up somewhere

 

[imacowgirl2]

Interesting…

When we started collecting hatching eggs, we put these particular hens in a breeding cage with the rooster for a few days, then after that they went straight into dog crates until they laid their egg each day. After an egg was laid, we let them out with the hens for the rest of the day, and put them in the crate again the next morning.

We do have barred rock hens…but all of our roosters live in a bachelor pad, separate from the hens —so even if my daughter did accidentally put an egg from a barred rock into the hatching eggs, it shouldn’t have been fertile.

I’m trying to think back if we had any incidents where the wrong rooster may have gotten ahold of these hens …we did have a blue australorp get in with the wrong rooster right when we started breeding…but we stopped collecting her eggs — I wonder if we stopped collecting eggs of the wrong blue australorp?

Would a blue australorp crossed with any of these breeds produce this chick: Leghorn, California White, Buff Orpington, New Hampshire?

If the answer to that is “no” then I guess we have to assume that at some point we had an escapee rooster that I’m not aware of, he got the barred rock hens bred, and my daughter accidentally put one of those eggs in the hatching container…

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Unless you waited a month after the wrong male bred her, she likely still was laying some of his chicks

 

[MysteryChicken]

Mom or mom:
View attachment 3374430

View attachment 3374433

And Dad:
View attachment 3374434

The blue hen is the mother, she's a Blue Cuckoo Marans.

That means the chick is a male.

 

[3KillerBs]

I agree with MysteryChicken, the chick is barred/cuckoo which none of the potential parents are. I do see you have a barred bird though in the second photo, seems there may have been a mix-up somewhere

Yes, this.

we did have a blue australorp get in with the wrong rooster right when we started breeding…but we stopped collecting her eggs — I wonder if we stopped collecting eggs of the wrong blue australorp?

I had 4 black hens to prove that the rooster's contribution can still be good for a month because the friend who hatched them waited 3 weeks after she separated her breeds before she collected eggs.

 

[imacowgirl2]

Unless you waited a month after the wrong male bred her, she likely still was laying some of his chicks

We didn’t collect any of her eggs after the wrong male bred her, for just that reason.