McMuarry Surprise

[Candace Longan]

4 Weeks old. Was free surprise chick when ordering from McMuarry. It "looks" like an Easter Egger but McMuarry doesn't list them as one of their varieites. Wouldn't an Ameracaucana need to have muffs? It's a smaller size bird but not quite bantam kind of small.

 

[pinknblackchaos]

Could be an olive egger perhaps?

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Or a cream legbar?

 

[Candace Longan]

They don't offer a general Olive Egger is a breed. This chick has distinctive green legs. Cream Leg bars have orange from what I can see.

 

[NatJ]

Fayoumi? I know McMurray offers them--small bird, silver/black pattern at maturity, can have green legs. The chicks appear to have brown down on their heads, which I notice on your bird. The hatchery page has a photo and a video of the day-old chicks, so you can see if they look familiar:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/egyptian_fayoumis.html


McMurray's "Ameraucanas" are supposed to have muffs, but there's always a chance of getting one without them, so that's still a possibility too.

 

[Candace Longan]

I have considered a Fayoumi. It was very pretty dark rich colored for a "wild type" pattern as a chick. I probably have a picture on my phone somewhere.... It's the only one that narrows down through process of elimination.

However I once got a Salmon Favorelle without any face furnishings in a group that the rest were all appropriately furnished from Cackle. I guess it's possible but... it's kind of fun but anxious to figure out the mystery chick.

I also got a Feather Footed Female Assortment that I'm getting to decipher as they mature. Those are a bit easier than this wiley little thing.

 

[NatJ]

I have considered a Fayoumi. It was very pretty dark rich colored for a "wild type" pattern as a chick. I probably have a picture on my phone somewhere.... It's the only one that narrows down through process of elimination.

I've never seen one in person, so I was going by the images in McMurray's video. I was surprised to see how much brown was on those chicks, given that the adult color has no brown at all!

 

[Candace Longan]

Really think it's going to be an Egyptian Fayoumis. A picture that someone posted a few years ago of a 4.5 week old. Looks exactly like my bird.

Kind of exciting. Didn't t hink I'd get some rare breed. Figured they'd throw in a standard run of the coop chicken. Now to wait and see if it's a roo or a hen... My luck its a roo.

 

[NatJ]

Kind of exciting. Didn't think I'd get some rare breed. Figured they'd throw in a standard run of the coop chicken. Now to wait and see if it's a roo or a hen... My luck its a roo.

I think McMurray tries to send rare breeds for the mystery chicks, but they're usually males.

My personal guess: when they sex the rare breeds, they put the extra males in a bin to give out as mystery chicks. I can see why it would make sense--they would never sell all those males anyway, people feel happy that they got something rare, and the people may later buy more of that breed.

My brother once got a white crested black Polish (male) as his mystery chick, and some years later I got a Bielefelder (also male).

 

[Candace Longan]

My personal guess: when they sex the rare breeds, they put the extra males in a bin to give out as mystery chicks. I can see why it would make sense

That's always been my assumption at least about extras being males. Anytime I've ever ordered the "extras" have always been roosters. Can't complain. I usually keep one and beg someone to take the others.