Progeny from heroic rooster

[sakerobot]

That's amazing she got a 100% hatch rate her first time! Yeah I'd like to try hatching with a broody this spring for the same reason. Brooders are too much work and mom can take care of them way better than we can anyway!

The only "difficulty" that we had this time was that on occasion she would produce chicken clay in one corner of the nesting box, away from the eggs which remained clean. It was relatively simple to address by removing the chunk of straw containing the offensive matter and replacing it with fresh straw. This happened maybe 5-6 times throughout the 3 weeks, at other times she went outside the box. I'm inclined to assume that this had to do with the low temperatures.

What we learned from our first hatching attempt is that other hens messing with the eggs can become catastrophic. We also don't like the idea of separating the hen from the flock for the entire time. Having the broody pen inside the coop but protected from unapproved access seems like the safest and socially stable approach.

The adult chickens posed for a nice picture yesterday:

On the right side are the 4 JGs next to Goldie, who adopted and raised them last year. Ares is in the center on the roosting bar facing us, Aristotle is next to him facing away, Aristophanes is on the ground, and Alcibiades is on the distant bar facing away. Jessica is the Buff Orpington on the left.

I think we can tell which one comes from the Arctic Blue Egger by the blue feathering. It wasn't as apparent in the dark.

The chicks were drinking water already yesterday.

 

[sakerobot]

Here are some good shots of all five:

To recap, the possible mothers are:

1 Jersey Giant
1 Buff Brahma
1 Speckled Sussex
1 Arctic Blue Egger
1 Undetermined: aside from one of the above (minus the blue), possible mother could be: Dominique, Columbian Wyandotte, RIR, Partridge or Buff Chanteclers, or Salmon Faverole. I doubt it's from the Chanteclers or SF as their eggs have unique shapes.

The fathers would be either DExBR or DExBuffOrp.

 

[NatJ]

The fathers would be either DExBR or DExBuffOrp.

Checking abbreviations:
DE = Delaware
BR = Barred Rock
BuffOrp = Buff Orpington

If I've got them right, any chicks with no barring would have the DE/BuffOrp as their father (not-barring inherited from the Orpington side of that.)

And any chicks that show gold in their coloring would also have the DE/BuffOrp as their father (red leakage can be something else, I'm thinking of big areas of actual gold/brown/red shades.)

To recap, the possible mothers are:

1 Jersey Giant
1 Buff Brahma
1 Speckled Sussex
1 Arctic Blue Egger
1 Undetermined: aside from one of the above (minus the blue), possible mother could be: Dominique, Columbian Wyandotte, RIR, Partridge or Buff Chanteclers, or Salmon Faverole. I doubt it's from the Chanteclers or SF as their eggs have unique shapes.

If the Jersey Giant is black, she produced one of the black chicks. The black chicks both appear to have barring (light dot on the head), so the father could be either rooster (DExBR has two barring genes, DExBuffOrp has one barring gene.) I think her chick is probably the one with the clearest "penguin" pattern and the light dot on the head, rather than the black one with sort-of stripes on the side of the head.

The DExBR rooster could have a produced a black chick with white barring from any hen, so color alone won't tell us which hen is the mother of the other black chick.

The Buff Brahma should have produced a chick with feathered feet. I think it's the lightest one, lots of yellow with gray on the head and a bit of black on the back. I can't tell yet whether it it's got barring or not (no barring means the DE/BuffOrp father, barring could mean either father.) Her chick should also have a pea comb (heterozygous pea comb, also called "modified pea comb." probably grows up to be bigger and less tidy than the comb she herself has.)

I've lost track, did you already post a picture of the Arctic Blue Egger anywhere? I'm not sure what to guess about her chick as regards coloring or comb. If she's got blue feathers, and if no other parent has blue in the feathers, then there's a 50% chance that she gave that blue to her chick-- that would make it relatively easy to recognize. If any of the chicks have blue, I'm guessing it's the one that looks like a sort of muted chipmunk stripe pattern to me. (Not either of two "black" ones, not chipmunk striped, and I don't see any feathered feet.)

By process of elimination, I'm thinking the Speckled Sussex produced either the chipmunk chick or one of the black chicks, and the mystery hen produced the other one. Comb type and foot color might help sort those out (when you can see the combs, and when they are old enough for the foot color to be clear.) Speckled Sussex would produce a chick with white feet (not yellow) and a single comb (not pea, rose, or walnut.)