Mt Healthy messed up

[Party_Chicken]

And pullet or cockerel...?

Cockerel for sure

 

[Saveria]

But why isn't it red? Marans get red combs super early. At seven weeks I'm still not sure that is male.

 

[Sally PB]

It’s a golden cuckoo marans.

It has yellow legs, so I don't think so. Marans have pinkish-white legs.

 

[BastyPutt]

But why isn't it red? Marans get red combs super early. At seven weeks I'm still not sure that is male.

In reality - the comb isn't a 100% tell in all aspects. Red, large - you name it - some can end up going the other way. Two things an actual cockerel cannot hide - male specific feathering, and crowing.

So really everything we do here is guess up until those two things show.

I was just terribly deceived on a mottled mix we hatched. I was convinced due to the large comb at around 8 weeks that it was a cockerel. But, it is now about 20 weeks and is very much a pullet, but a very large pullet with a huge comb and decent wattles.

 

[Party_Chicken]

It has yellow legs, so I don't think so. Marans have pinkish-white legs.

Hmm I don’t really know what else it could be. I know mt healthy sells them.

 

[Sally PB]

Hmm I don’t really know what else it could be. I know mt healthy sells them.

Brown Leghorn? Or, hopefully... Bielefelder!

 

[Party_Chicken]

Brown Leghorn? Or, hopefully... Bielefelder!

Definitely not a leghorn. If it is a bielefelder then it would be a miracle because if I’m correct that is female specific coloring.

 

[Sally PB]

If it is a bielefelder then it would be a miracle because if I’m correct that is female specific coloring

It was purchased as a Bielefelder pullet. That's what I'm hoping for.

People have said that much comb at 5 weeks... gotta be a cockerel of something else. It is the "extra chick."

 

[Saveria]

I was just terribly deceived on a mottled mix we hatched. I was convinced due to the large comb at around 8 weeks that it was a cockerel. But, it is now about 20 weeks and is very much a pullet, but a very large pullet with a huge comb and decent wattles.

Same thing happened to me last year with a starlight green egger. I was writing up a post about her on craigslist one morning to get her a new home when she laid and egg. You are totally right that we can make informed guesses, but that is all they are.

 

[NatJ]

We have yet to contact mt healthy and ask for a refund.

I thought you ordered 3 pullets, received 3 pullets, and also received an extra that may be a cockerel.

If you got the number of pullets you paid for, they do not owe any refund. You pay $0 for the extra chick, there is nothing to refund if it is the wrong gender.

The comb will have no bearing on egg color. Seperate, unrelated genes

Ahh I saw something were pea combs carry a 98% chance of the blue egg gene so I thought it worked the same way with straight combs.

Both partly right.

There is a link between the blue egg gene and the pea comb gene. So they are different genes, but get inherited together most of the time.

They can be linked in any combination:
pea comb/blue egg (Ameraucana)
pea comb/not-blue egg (Brahma)
single comb/blue egg (Cream Legbar)
single comb/not-blue egg (Marans)

So if someone is crossing Ameraucanas with Marans, and then they interbreed the offspring, the pea combs will mostly go with the blue or green eggs, and the single combs will mostly go with the brown eggs.

But if someone is crossing Cream Legbars with Brahmas, and then they interbreed the offspring, the pea combs will mostly go with the brown eggs, and the single combs with blue or green eggs.

And if someone crosses two single comb breeds (Cream Legbar and Marans) or two pea comb breeds (Ameraucana and Brahma), they will not be able to tell egg color by comb type because the combs are all the same anyway.

My EE from tsc has a straight comb and lays blue eggs but she is there CCL based EE. I think yours will lay brown eggs because most of mt healthys EEs have pea combs.

Yes, from a line that has the pea comb/blue egg linkage, a single comb bird will probably lay not-blue eggs. But that depends on whether the chicken really does come from a line with that linkage (because the hatchery could have some blue egg/pea comb birds too.)