He is a cutie, though I could not say what he might look like!Neither can I! Lol Here's the one I suspect is a roo. (actually, I bet money on it) Aside from the red comb and wattles coming in, he's the only one with any colors other than brown. He's got these big, patchy spots on his chest and wings and I think there's some red coming in between his wings, on his shoulders. I think he's going to be very handsome! Do you know what he could look like as he matures?
These were purchased eggs right? Do you know whether the breeder was working on any color projects? Perhaps they're in the process of breeding a sex-linked color. Pixie Chickens has an article from some years ago talking about her chocolate breeding project and the chocolate is a sex-linked recessive gene.
Wow, what a strange experience! On the upside you got an excellent hatch rate.
My experiences acquiring animals from breeders has left me with mixed feelings. In one case I acquired silkie chicks that turned out to be silkie crosses. No idea what they're crossed with. I wrote the lady & told her I didn't mind they weren't full silkies (even though I honestly did) because I really wanted to know what the mix might be. Of course she never wrote me back.
In the second case we bought 4 ducks and were told 3 were females. It turns out 3 are males.
In the third case (this is the gal I acquired my seramas from) there were a number of little details that weren't quite correct during our conversations (like age of a second flock she owned shifted from 5 months to 7 months within a week). When I finally purchased the birds I was told 3 falsehoods:
1. they rarely go broody (as you know I have a broody on eggs right now, and a second one who's been in a broody breaker cage for several days, sigh).
2. the 5 girls would lay me 3-5 eggs a day (once I got 4 eggs, but before these two girls went broody I was typically getting 1-3 eggs a day).
3. they were all A class. This was thankfully a lie as I don't care one iota about their weight unless it's too low for them to lay effectively. I weighed 3 of my girls one afternoon and as best I could tell one was A class and the other two were C class weights.
Naliez, I'm hoping for the best with your babies but just because my own experiences have led me to feel suspicious of breeders, I want to make you an offer. If you find that as your babies continue to grow and feather out that they aren't full blood seramas, I invite you to send me a PM. I would be happy to send you whatever eggs I could collect over 3-4 days for cost of s&h.
It's been a lot of fun, all this chicken business; a lot of ups and downs. I feel like I've learned a lot in a very short amount of time (and with minimal disaster) thanks to the many kind and helpful people, (like you!) here on BYC and for that, I am very grateful.
