Okay, if He Isn't a Bantam, What is He?

[microchick]

This past spring I had a hen go broody and no eggs to set her on so I bought eggs from an Amish neighbor who had sold me a dozen eggs that were happily incubating away in my Brinsea. All the incubator eggs hatched. Mostly cockerels, natch, but lovely little BBR OEGB crosses. I even got one with feathered feet and legs who's ancestry could be traced back to a Cochin Bantam.

I set 7 eggs under my broody expecting to get a similar appearing bunch of chicks out of the eggs and boy was I wrong. I did get a few BBRs and a couple of OEGBs that have a lot of brown in them and then I got this boy. Now keep in mind, he popped out of a Bantam sized egg. Hatched with zero difficulties. I also had two pullets hatch that have muted Crele markings on a creamy light brown feather base. Zilla though (my husband named him Godzilla because he is so much bigger than his brothers. I call him Zee) has me buffaloed. He is a gorgeous Crele color, Very sweet and gentle rooster although he tends to get picked on a bit by the smaller OEGB cockerels. I've seen him spar with the other roosters but he seldom wins. I know there is a Crele color for OEGBs but this boy ain't a pure OEGB. Probably not even close.

But what is everyone's best guess as to what he and the two little hens hatched with similar markings are? The two hens are about twice the size of my smaller OEGB crosses and about 4 times larger than my two little Silver Duckwing OEGB pullets.

Here, is the Mighty Zee:

For comparison you can see Lord Percival who is one of his hatch brothers to the left and some of my pathetically moulty Buff Orpington hens in the background.

Thanks for any help.

 

[drumstick diva]

Zee is gorgeous, and that is all I can think of for the moment.

 

[microchick]

YEAH, and he knows it too.

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

It is probably a mix between a small standard, and a bantam. I don't know what though.....

 

[WVduckchick]

Wow, he's stunning!

 

[Gray Farms]

Boy is he nice!! He's crossed with a large breed of course. And going by his shape and leg color he could be an Orpington cross. Its hard telling with cross breeds exactly what you've got.

 

[microchick]

I had a suggestion that maybe he is part Bielelfelder on another thread. I looked them up and by golly he very well could be.

I'm just amazed every time I look at him, that he came out of a bantam sized egg. Once he fluffed out and dried it was obvious that he was a larger chick than the others. I've seen a rooster like him roaming around the farm where the eggs came from so it could be very likely that he is Bielelfelder. I don't think the Amish guy is very well knowledged about what kind of chickens he has.....just that they lay eggs.

I remember him telling me that he had butchered the Buff Cochin Bantam rooster that he had and commenting that "Y'know, that little bird didn't have any meat on him at all!" Well DUH! I guess people are always giving him birds. I told him if he ever got another one given to him don't butcher it. I'd take it.

 

[Redhead Rae]

That "Crele" coloring is coming from a Barred rooster over a Red hen. I know this isn't a really clear picture, but this is a picture of General Tso who was our Dominique/RIR rooster. He got sent to freezer camp at 9 months for bad behavior.

For your bird, I think his sire was probably a standard sized barred rooster over a bantam hen OR his father could have been a BBR and his mother was a standard sized bird who had just started laying, but mistaken for a bantam egg.

 

[microchick]

Could be also.

Most of the roosters I've hatched from the Amish eggs are BBRs. So he very well could be the product of a BBR over a standard hen. I didn't give the new layer/small egg theory a thought but possible also.

There are a couple of roosters in our flock that are browns with black tails and two that are blacks with some brown penciling on their hackle and saddle feathers. Very striking birds.

Like I said, I don't really think our neighbor knows what the breeds of his birds are. All he knows is that they are bantams and crosses.

I'll have to keep my eyes out for a barred rock chicken free ranging when I drive by.