Maybe not Marans? :(

[Shadrach]

Whelp...hard to tell at this age/stage. All I can do is point you to Hoover's on site photo. (BTW TSC employees are notorious for not knowing what they are talking about and mixing bins).

I can say that the leg feathering is present at hatch...at least a strip down the outside of leg to outside toe. (You can see it in the photo below). So if you don't have it now, it won't grow in later...which makes me very suspect it is FRENCH Marans (as the leg feathering is the difference between French Marans and American Marans).

I also suspect that the darker red-gold are something else.

LofMc

Perhaps I've read the above wrong. These are French Marans, bought in Marans, France. All the French Marans I've known have feathered legs.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

Perhaps I've read the above wrong. These are French Marans, bought in Marans, France. All the French Marans I've known have feathered legs.

View attachment 3482347

Haha, yes, they are definitely *supposed* to have feathered feet... And come from France. But there are other colors besides Black Copper, (including sex linked Marans crosses), and the "American" (or sometimes hatchery quality perhaps?) are clean legged, and/or might not follow the standard. Either way, they should be laying chocolate eggs.

Gorgeous birds, btw. The entire internet is jealous right now lol

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

This was one of my Hoovers RIRs around that age so I would say your #1could be either a RIR or production red.

Sorry you didn’t get the ones you wanted. Cute chicks though!
View attachment 3482342

Aww, so cute! Thank you! Yes, it's so hard because of course they are adorable. I might even have someone who would take them, but a part of me is like.... But, but.... My chicks!?? Lol Ridiculous, I know.

I found a pic of various brown eggs, light and dark, white, and green, so maybe I will just get used to the idea and keep them after all lol

 

[ColtHandorf]

@ColtHandorf Do you how much this pains me to tag you here? Please, please tell me it's going to be okay.

I've been summoned? I'm not sure why it pains you to do it, though.

Chicks:

1. Probably Rhode Island Red or Production Red.
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?

Buff Orpingtons have white skin. The legs wouldn't be yellow on the chick if it were a buff Orpington. So do Marans.

Hoover's doesn't carry White Marans, so that suggestion is a bust.

To clarify on Marans...

The French Standard calls for feathered legs. The UK Standard calls for clean legs. When Marans were first imported to the US, birds from both areas were brought to the States. In typical American fashion, with no regard for the work that went into breeding them, most people only saw them as a way to make a quick buck and indiscriminately bred them to produce as many as they could, resulting in birds that have feathered and non-feathered legs.

When discussions about admitting Marans into the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection began, the breeders working toward that goal preferred the French SOP to the UK SOP. So once the groundwork was done on the proposed SOP and the required amount of birds and breeders were shown, they were admitted.

There is no "American" Marans. The Marans that follow the APA SOP also follow the French SOP. Birds with clean legs are not showable here in the US but follow the UK SOP.

If "American" is just a designation for crap quality, I'd just use the term hatchery quality. Unless you're getting birds from a breeder, you're not going to get eggs that even qualify. The French SOP says any egg laid that is 1-3 on the Marans egg scale is not a Marans despite coming from a Marans flock. A hen must lay an egg of at least a 4 with darker eggs being preferable and 8-9 being the most coveted.

Sage Acres Farm LLC, for instance has excellent quality eggs.

All that to say, none of the chicks are Orpingtons or Marans. And if you want dark eggs to make pretty baskets, look for a breeder.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

View attachment 3482448
I've been summoned? I'm not sure why it pains you to do it, though.

Chicks:

1. Probably Rhode Island Red or Production Red.
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?

Buff Orpingtons have white skin. The legs wouldn't be yellow on the chick if it were a buff Orpington. So do Marans.

Hoover's doesn't carry White Marans, so that suggestion is a bust.

To clarify on Marans...

The French Standard calls for feathered legs. The UK Standard calls for clean legs. When Marans were first imported to the US, birds from both areas were brought to the States. In typical American fashion, with no regard for the work that went into breeding them, most people only saw them as a way to make a quick buck and indiscriminately bred them to produce as many as they could, resulting in birds that have feathered and non-feathered legs.

When discussions about admitting Marans into the American Poultry Association's Standard of Perfection began, the breeders working toward that goal preferred the French SOP to the UK SOP. So once the groundwork was done on the proposed SOP and the required amount of birds and breeders were shown, they were admitted.

There is no "American" Marans. The Marans that follow the APA SOP also follow the French SOP. Birds with clean legs are not showable here in the US but follow the UK SOP.

If "American" is just a designation for crap quality, I'd just use the term hatchery quality. Unless you're getting birds from a breeder, you're not going to get eggs that even qualify. The French SOP says any egg laid that is 1-3 on the Marans egg scale is not a Marans despite coming from a Marans flock. A hen must lay an egg of at least a 4 with darker eggs being preferable and 8-9 being the most coveted.

Sage Acres Farm LLC, for instance has excellent quality eggs.

All that to say, none of the chicks are Orpingtons or Marans. And if you want dark eggs to make pretty baskets, look for a breeder.

You're amazing. Thank you! And it pains me because I am utterly mortified to have to admit that I *may* have accidentally let green-laying mutts into my flock / brooder. I do have a local breeder in mind for Blue Copper Marans, and I SAID this to DH as he went into the store, but whatever. Maybe if I can rehome them, he will make it up to me by letting me get the Marans chicks I wanted in the first place, since up till now, he had been saying zero new chicks this season, which clearly went out the window. lol If anything, I still have some grand plans to get my hands on some splash Ameraucanas or the like, to cross with my Australorps down the road, and maybe make MY OWN blue-carrying, green-laying mutts. (Although the muffs are really hard for me.) I can't say I'm crazy about the look of most of the SGEs I've seen, either.

 

[CluckyandPeepsFlock]

I just wanted to pop in and say your chick photos are adorable!!

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

I just wanted to pop in and say your chick photos are adorable!!

Awww, thank you!!! That means a lot to me, as a doting chickie-mama

 

[ColtHandorf]

I *may* have accidentally let green-laying mutts into my flock

I have a green egg-laying mutt. She's a funny girl.

I still have some grand plans to get my hands on some splash Ameraucanas or the like, to cross with my Australorps down the road, and maybe make MY OWN blue-carrying, green-laying mutts.

I'd recommend Mars Bars for a Green cross. Black Copper Marans and Cream Crested Legbar. They are sex-linked, so you can get rid of the boys really quickly, and the hens all come out looking like BCM with lightly feathered feet, a tiny crest and lay a nice, large green egg.

 

[Shadrach]

Haha, yes, they are definitely *supposed* to have feathered feet... And come from France. But there are other colors besides Black Copper, (including sex linked Marans crosses), and the "American" (or sometimes hatchery quality perhaps?) are clean legged, and/or might not follow the standard. Either way, they should be laying chocolate eggs.

Gorgeous birds, btw. The entire internet is jealous right now lol

There is a problem with a number of breeds that have very definite characteristics that have ended up in the American breeder hatchery system. These are a few that I know a little about. Marans. Light Sussex. Black Minorcans. Catalana del Prat. Swedish Flower. Blackrocks. Norfolk Grey. Golden Comet. Hi Line. Fayoumie. Hamburg. Old English Game. Transelvanian, not to mention the various land race breeds from around the world.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

I have a green egg-laying mutt. She's a funny girl.

I'd recommend Mars Bars for a Green cross. Black Copper Marans and Cream Crested Legbar. They are sex-linked, so you can get rid of the boys really quickly, and the hens all come out looking like BCM with lightly feathered feet, a tiny crest and lay a nice, large green egg.

I love it. So what would you do in my shoes? I have really limited coop space at the moment, but even once we move the capacity is going to be limited by what we think we can kind of get away with based on the neighborhood. If I have people who would take chickens off my hands (and love them), should I just be brutal and get rid of them all (i.e the four mystery chicks)? Keep a favorite, or two?

Spoiler: Flock Details

I have 5 Australorps - 1 favorite to breed, 1 good to breed (both dark eyes); 1 would love to breed for her super high tail, but has light eyes. (So I would either try her anyway and see if she throws any dark eyed chicks, but I have heard eye color is hard to fix. Or keep her for making super pretty high tailed colored egg layers.) Two with light eyes, I would consider letting go as laying pullets since I can't breed them, but one does have a preferred personality so that's hard, too. Goal is to finally get my Australorp rooster and have that all in place for next year.

I have 4 Welsummers left, and they each lay a different egg. Two are very nice and dark; the other two are lighter, one with many fine speckles and another with interesting splotchy speckles. I have thought about letting go of the one who got picked on from this batch of chicks, who is still the smallest; I think she is the all-over fine speckled layer.
I would consider keeping 1, 2, or 3 Bielefelder chicks. I have never had them, but I like the look with the Welsummers, and if they have nice temperaments that's great for the kids. Plus bigger, possibly darker, brown eggs more like the size of the ducks could be a selling point.

I would keep one or both SLWs. I feel like one may have a sweeter personality already though, so I don't know if I need to keep both basic egg layers just for the pop of eye candy. I had wanted GLWs but of course these girls are the original, and super pretty, too. Plus, they pull the white and black speckles from the WH ducks, so I feel like it works aesthetically.

Then we come to the four chicks in question.

I don't have a set number of birds to get rid of, but my toddler said seven. So for argument's sake, say it's seven. Then I get my rooster, and hopefully enough chicks to keep four Blue Copper Marans hens, and that brings me up to 16 chickens total, rather than 18. So I'm still down net 2, but I've gained a rooster and I would have the Marans I want. Just a matter I think of shuffling how many laying hens and how many / which new chicks, to set someone up with a nice little starter flock.

Phew! I actually made up an infographic of sorts so I can shuffle the birds around and help me visualize. lol Send help.