Orange chick with silver stripes?

[BaileyBirds]

I have a few other chicks which are mysteries too, but not as confusing as this one. It’s the most vibrant and unusual chick I’ve ever seen.
It’s mother is a welsummer, I know for sure.
It’s father could be a welsummer or an australorp, but I have no clue how a chick would look like this. I also have other mixed breed roosters. Two of those are offspring of the welsummer and australorp, and two look like silver laced Orpington mixes.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

What a cute chick!

 

[MysteryChicken]

The chick is probably Splash, or Blue Duckwing. The appearance varies.

 

[labelo]

How interesting! Do keep us updated as it gets bigger. Pics of the possible dads might be helpful, too.

Are your welsummer hens red/gold or silver? If you're not sure, the color around the neck/hackles will tell you--gold-ish = gold/red, white-ish = silver.

The silver color does line up with splash--that would require the hen to be blue, though (do any of your welsumer hens have blue-ish grey tails/rumps?). We could probably narrow down the dad options, as he'd also have to be blue. Is one of your australorp or australorp-mix roosters blue?

The orange-red brown is somewhat unusual for a duckwing or partridge patterened chick; it's more common in wheaten (like RIRs). Excited to see this one grow up!

 

[GlicksChicks]

I don't know, but it is one of the most beautiful chicks I have seen!!

 

[BaileyBirds]

How interesting! Do keep us updated as it gets bigger. Pics of the possible dads might be helpful, too.

Are your welsummer hens red/gold or silver? If you're not sure, the color around the neck/hackles will tell you--gold-ish = gold/red, white-ish = silver.

The silver color does line up with splash--that would require the hen to be blue, though (do any of your welsumer hens have blue-ish grey tails/rumps?). We could probably narrow down the dad options, as he'd also have to be blue. Is one of your australorp or australorp-mix roosters blue?

The orange-red brown is somewhat unusual for a duckwing or partridge patterened chick; it's more common in wheaten (like RIRs). Excited to see this one grow up!

Thank you!

I believe the broody hen is my only welsummer hen, she looks like a gold/red to me.

Here’s my welsummer and australorp roosters as well,

And the four of their mixed offspring.

And also the two other mystery roosters that I think might be Orpington mixes,

I’ll definitely keep posting the little cutie as it gets older!!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thank you!

I believe the broody hen is my only welsummer hen, she looks like a gold/red to me. View attachment 3901901

Here’s my welsummer and australorp roosters as well, View attachment 3901904View attachment 3901903

And the four of their mixed offspring. View attachment 3901906View attachment 3901907View attachment 3901908View attachment 3901909

And also the two other mystery roosters that I think might be Orpington mixes,
View attachment 3901910View attachment 3901911


I’ll definitely keep posting the little cutie as it gets older!!

Father is most likely one of the two blue cockerels.

 

[labelo]

At least two of your roosters are blue, so blue/splash is definitely a possibility for this chick.

Are you certain that hen is the biological mother? Hens will often sit on eggs laid by other birds. Of course, if she's your only dark-egg layer, maybe that's why you think she's the mom? If it's possible another hen is mom, that opens up all sorts of possibilities.

This website has some examples of Wheaten e-allele chicks (all sex-links from Rhode Island Reds) that are similar in color/pattern to yours, except that yours has silvery blue stripes instead of cream.

My guess as of right now is a that your chick is a wheaten/duckwing split, genetically red, and genetically blue or splash. Splash would only be possible if mom was also blue or splash. You'd normally expect wheaten chicks to be more solid-colored, but when heterozygous the recessive pattern will often come out, depending on the melanizers present.

Almost impossible to know for sure, but running with the theory that the first mixed rooster is the dad (he appears to be genetically wheaten or wheaten split, red or gold, and blue), and mom is the welsummer, you *could* get a chick that looks like yours.

But I could also be totally wrong!

 

[MysteryChicken]

At least two of your roosters are blue, so blue/splash is definitely a possibility for this chick.

Are you certain that hen is the biological mother? Hens will often sit on eggs laid by other birds. Of course, if she's your only dark-egg layer, maybe that's why you think she's the mom? If it's possible another hen is mom, that opens up all sorts of possibilities.

This website has some examples of Wheaten e-allele chicks (all sex-links from Rhode Island Reds) that are similar in color/pattern to yours, except that yours has silvery blue stripes instead of cream.

My guess as of right now is a that your chick is a wheaten/duckwing split, genetically red, and genetically blue or splash. Splash would only be possible if mom was also blue or splash. You'd normally expect wheaten chicks to be more solid-colored, but when heterozygous the recessive pattern will often come out, depending on the melanizers present.

Almost impossible to know for sure, but running with the theory that the first mixed rooster is the dad (he appears to be genetically wheaten or wheaten split, red or gold, and blue), and mom is the welsummer, you *could* get a chick that looks like yours.

But I could also be totally wrong!

The chick is Blue Duckwing. Wildtype color is intermediate, which means it can be dominant, or recessive.

 

[labelo]

The chick is Blue Duckwing. Wildtype color is intermediate, which means it can be dominant, or recessive.

and duckwing/e+ is dominant (either fully or partially) to Wheaten/e^Wh, right?

My musings about wheaten are because of the pattern--usually duckwing has a darker center stripe, but wheaten chicks like red sex-links will have a lighter colored center stripe, which made me think maybe the lighter/silver center stripe was somehow wheaten-related. In a blue duckwing chick does the dark center stripe get lighter/silvery? I'm having a hard time finding a picture of one.

*edit to add another possibility--could this chick be lavender? Probably not-what's the likelihood of two birds carrying a recessive lavender? The only reason I mention it is because in my futile search for images of blue duckwing chicks I did run across lavender duckwing chicks which seem very similar to the OP's, just not as red/orange (post #15 on this page). But if blue also turns the dark brown center stripe to a silvery blue, then that's far more likely.