Oranger-than-expected chick?

mistermorel

Chirping
5 Years
May 27, 2020
21
19
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This rainbow layer chick is turning out WAY more orange than I expected (I know she has some BCM in her, but she looks nothing like my old BCM girls). This might be impossible to answer -- I know part of the fun is the surprise of how they turn out, lol! -- but has anyone had a similar-looking chick? How'd they end up looking?

First two pics are at three weeks old. Final pic (from behind) was taken today, about four weeks old.

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Hoping I everything is OK with my post. This is my first post on the forum :)
 
This rainbow layer chick is turning out WAY more orange than I expected (I know she has some BCM in her, but she looks nothing like my old BCM girls). This might be impossible to answer -- I know part of the fun is the surprise of how they turn out, lol! -- but has anyone had a similar-looking chick? How'd they end up looking?

First two pics are at three weeks old. Final pic (from behind) was taken today, about four weeks old.

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Hoping I everything is OK with my post. This is my first post on the forum :)
I had one named hyper, but she was one of about 14 I lost to a fox😢 she was hall Rhode Island Red, half Australorp.
 

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I had one named hyper, but she was one of about 14 I lost to a fox😢 she was hall Rhode Island Red, half Australorp.
On a lighter note, five mysterious dark hybrids that should have interesting patterns as they grow, and one big chonky yellow (probably Orpington) I hatched for a friend. All half Rhode Island Red.
 

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Was this little one hatched from one of your hens? If so pics of rooster and hens may help others in breed id.

If bought as day old. Where?

I agree....Very pretty 🙂
I bought her at about a week old from a local farmer, who also didn't seem too sure about how she'd end up looking haha

Farmer mentioned the possibility of her being orange-and-black barred, although if that's the case I'm not sure what it implies about her parentage (since I'm also pretty sure BCM was in the mix, and I don't know where the orange would come from in, say, a barred rock/BCM cross) -- but I'm not super knowledgeable on chicken breeds in the first place
 
When you say Barred Rock/BCM cross are you meaning Barred Rock (BR) roo X BCM hen.. this cross I'm not familiar with, but could produce what you got.

A BCM roo x BR hen cross produces what some hatcheries call a Midnight Majesty Marans (there's other names depending on hatchery) which produces females that are black much like the BCM but the males will be Barred sexable at hatch with a white head spot.
This cross only works BCM roo x BR hen, tho.

Fyi...when we talk crosses we always list roo first (Roo x Hen) to avoid the confusion. In case you didn't know. 👍

@NatJ any thoughts or insight to help?
 
@NatJ any thoughts or insight to help?
Not much.

I definitely see the orange. I don't have a good explanation for why there is that much orange, rather than a different amount.

For why the color is orange rather than copper or red or some other shade, that is probably due to which genes were inherited from which parent. A Barred Rock will have genes that affect what shade of gold/red is present, but because a Barred Rock is only showing black and white we cannot tell what those other genes are until they appear in its descendants. But I don't have any explanation for which specific genes are causing it to have that shade of orange.
 

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