Speckled something with blue beak? Please help ID breed and gender. Also care questions (new chicken owner).

[Rhodebar Lover]

I'm not quite sure what he is breed wise but he looks to be a mix and a cockerel. The other chick looks to potentially be a Starlight Green Egger pullet

 

[FunClucks]

I'm not quite sure what he is breed wise but he looks to be a mix and a cockerel. The other chick looks to potentially be a Starlight Green Egger pullet

Thanks! I'm kinda disappointed cause I wanted him to be female, but the signs are there. As a newbie to chickens, it's hard to be sure. He's a bit more standoffish than my other chicks, but I got him when he was 2-3 wks old, and the others earlier. I hope he stays nice. Rural King said the other chick is an ISA Brown, but she does look very much like my lighter starlight green egger. They can be so hard to tell apart in that color. Guess the truth will be in the eggs.

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

Thanks! I'm kinda disappointed cause I wanted him to be female, but the signs are there. As a newbie to chickens, it's hard to be sure. He's a bit more standoffish than my other chicks, but I got him when he was 2-3 wks old, and the others earlier. I hope he stays nice. Rural King said the other chick is an ISA Brown, but she does look very much like my lighter starlight green egger. They can be so hard to tell apart in that color. Guess the truth will be in the eggs.

She could be an ISA Brown as well! She just had quite a bit of white so I assumed the other mix. If she's sold as one, I would assume she is one!

 

[FunClucks]

UPDATE: So, the chick is flourishing - we've named it Speckle. It is ~5-6 weeks old. It is bulkier than our other chickens, with thicker legs (yellow) and thicker shoulders. Its feathers poof up from its body. Do you guys still think it's a Green Queen and that it's male?

@TheOddOneOut got some new pictures at ~5-6+ weeks and would appreciate your thoughts.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

@TheOddOneOut got some new pictures at ~5-6+ weeks and would appreciate your thoughts.

It is indeed a male. I still think he's an Egger of some sort.

 

[FunClucks]

It is indeed a male. I still think he's an Egger of some sort.

Ok, thanks! Those feathers that curl up on the ends have me scratching my head.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Almost like a partial frizzle.

 

[FunClucks]

Almost like a partial frizzle.

Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. And I'm really wondering, how does a partial frizzle end up at TSC in a batch of ISA browns? Was someone just cleaning out their incubator and had a late hatch and thought, hey, lets just put all these together? Did they miss-segregate an egg somehow? He looked sorta similar to the ISA brown chicks as a chick I guess, but not if you were paying attention. I've been looking over the hatcheries' websites, but don't see anything really close to him.

 

[FunClucks]

So, I think I have my answer on what Speckle is. From what I can determine he's a FF-mfmf Frizzle Easter Egger from Meyers hatchery. Let me know you guys if you think I'm off base.

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/Frizzle-Easter-Egger-Day-Old-Chicks-p391524551

Meyers hatchery is in one of the states where the TSC staff member told me they got their chicks. I know Speckle is a colored egger because of his blue beak. Green Queen was a definite possibility, but then he turned out to be a frizzle. Meyers sells frizzled easter eggers as a new offering this year, with a wide variety of color schemes - I can see Speckles' coloring fitting the range they have shown so far online. Hoovers doesn't have them, and I couldn't find any other large hatcheries that offer frizzle easter eggers. (I'm pretty sure My Pet Chicken doesn't deliver to TSC, and they were the only other breeder I found who sold easter egger frizzles) From how his feathers frizzle, it appears he has two copies of the modifying gene, which allows him to be a non-exhibition frizzle instead of a frazzle.

Cool thing is, if I breed him to my non-frizzle hens, his offspring could have a chance of being an exhibition-type frizzle (Ff - MF+mf) or (Ff - MF+MF+), which is what people usually think of when they think of frizzles, depending on what genes the hens have. Unfortunately, unless I can keep him from crowing loudly, I'll have to rehome him as soon as he crows. He's one of my shyest towards humans birds, although he'll allow me to handle him he doesn't like it much. Almost all the rest of them come up and perch on my hand contentedly for petting when I open the grow-out pen to do water and food filling. Speckle will allow me to pick him up, but he'll avoid me if he can, while not actually running away in fear. My hand/arm is already too small to be a secure feeling perch for him, and he's not even 8 weeks yet and already probably about 3-4(?) lbs. Not sure how that will translate into rooster behavior as he grows up, and if I can't safely handle him, he'll need to find a new home. He believes that I'm higher in the pecking order than he is at the moment, so we'll see how that goes as he matures. He tried to peck me once, I pecked back decisively, and gave him the evil eye, and he hasn't tried anything on me since.

I'll have to post updated pictures once I can safely get him out of the grow out pen in the sunlight. He's got this gorgeous red/brown/partridge/flower thing going on, but he requires two hands whenever he's out of the pen. The rest of them stick around, but he'd like to wander.

Anyone in North Alabama (USA) or just across the Tennessee state line interested in a frizzle easter egger?

 

[FunClucks]

So, I think I have my answer on what Speckle is. From what I can determine he's a FF-mfmf Frizzle Easter Egger from Meyers hatchery. Let me know you guys if you think I'm off base.

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/Frizzle-Easter-Egger-Day-Old-Chicks-p391524551

Meyers hatchery is in one of the states where the TSC staff member told me they got their chicks. I know Speckle is a colored egger because of his blue beak. Green Queen was a definite possibility, but then he turned out to be a frizzle. Meyers sells frizzled easter eggers as a new offering this year, with a wide variety of color schemes - I can see Speckles' coloring fitting the range they have shown so far online. Hoovers doesn't have them, and I couldn't find any other large hatcheries that offer frizzle easter eggers. (I'm pretty sure My Pet Chicken doesn't deliver to TSC, and they were the only other breeder I found who sold easter egger frizzles) From how his feathers frizzle, it appears he has two copies of the modifying gene, which allows him to be a non-exhibition frizzle instead of a frazzle.

Cool thing is, if I breed him to my non-frizzle hens, his offspring could have a chance of being an exhibition-type frizzle (Ff - MF+mf) or (Ff - MF+MF+), which is what people usually think of when they think of frizzles, depending on what genes the hens have. Unfortunately, unless I can keep him from crowing loudly, I'll have to rehome him as soon as he crows. He's one of my shyest towards humans birds, although he'll allow me to handle him he doesn't like it much. Almost all the rest of them come up and perch on my hand contentedly for petting when I open the grow-out pen to do water and food filling. Speckle will allow me to pick him up, but he'll avoid me if he can, while not actually running away in fear. My hand/arm is already too small to be a secure feeling perch for him, and he's not even 8 weeks yet and already probably about 3-4(?) lbs. Not sure how that will translate into rooster behavior as he grows up, and if I can't safely handle him, he'll need to find a new home. He believes that I'm higher in the pecking order than he is at the moment, so we'll see how that goes as he matures. He tried to peck me once, I pecked back decisively, and gave him the evil eye, and he hasn't tried anything on me since.

I'll have to post updated pictures once I can safely get him out of the grow out pen in the sunlight. He's got this gorgeous red/brown/partridge/flower thing going on, but he requires two hands whenever he's out of the pen. The rest of them stick around, but he'd like to wander.

Anyone in North Alabama (USA) or just across the Tennessee state line interested in a frizzle easter egger?

So, newbie chicken owner update. Glad this popped up in my feed cause I couldn't find this post for a while and wanted to update it. Turns out I was totally wrong about the frizzle thing. At least, as an adult he doesn't have any frizzled feathers. He went through another juvenile molt after this one, and all the curled feathers went away. He looks like a RIR mix as an adult (so our working hypothesis is again Green Queen), and so far, we are keeping him. Crows occasionally throughout the day and only a few times at night. No human aggression (yet, he's 6-7 months old so still growing), and he mates occasionally throughout the day. He has 12 mature hens at this point and he's not over-mating anyone. The hens aren't scared of him, although they will squawk when he jumps on them (he's at least 10 lbs I think - really heavy bird), and they will occasionally groom him. He leads them to the roost at night. I don't know that he interferes with hen squabbles, but he doesn't seem to create stress in the hens, so I'll call it a win.

Here's pics of Speckle at 4 months old. His comb has since grown to 2.5" tall (not floppy), and his tail has gotten a few inches taller. His coloration is about the same at six months as shown here. Eventually I'll get some grown -up pictures of him...