My barnyard crew … feather color/genetics

[Krissy77]

I just hatched my first set of chicks!! They have all (15) almost came out black. Except 1 came out yellow and 1 came out 1/2 yellow 1/2 black.
Rooster was a buff Orpington.
Hens are: amberlink, sapphire gem, mystic onyx, Dominique, EE, & cinnamon queen.
The amberlink gave me the yellow chick. But she also had one come out solid black. I’m new to all this and was wondering if most mixed breeds come out black?
They are still young & I know they can change colors some still. I figured there would be more markings.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Any with head spots are probably from the Barred hen.

 

[Amer]

Well you see, the extended black gene is dominant to all other colors, and the Sapphire gem, Amberlink, Mystic Onyx, and Dominique are all at least heterozygous for extended black, many of them homozygous for the gene.
The amberlink has one gene for dominant white. So she can produce either black or white chicks.

 

[NatJ]

I’m new to all this and was wondering if most mixed breeds come out black?

From the hens you have, yes.
From other sets of chickens, often not.

They are still young & I know they can change colors some still. I figured there would be more markings.

I would expect some more color to show up in their feathers as they grow-- gold or red in the females, just about any possible color in the males. The will probably still have a lot of black, but not solid black.

The chicks that are black with yellow dots on their heads will have white barring, which they inherited from their mother. They are males. Barred mother and not-barred father produce sexlinked chicks, where the sons have white barring and the daughters do not have white barring.