Supposed to be a barred rock...

[acbowers]

So I have this 16 week old chicken that came in with the rest of my barred rocks; however, this one has been and is still considerably smaller than my other barred rocks. She has a rose comb (I think) which is more of a Dominique characteristic right? The rest of them have regular barred rock combs but this one has the weird comb and a redder face. What is it? Or is it a barred rock with no comb? Lol!

Sitting on her perch

Close up of her head

Close up of my other barred rock's head

both side by side. although in this heat, you can't tell that the smaller one's head is much redder.

small one and barred rock side by side

close up of comb

another close up.

What do you all think?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Did you get the birds from a hatchery?

 

[acbowers]

They were ordered for me at the local feed store. From Townline hatchery from what I know.

 

[LittlePriceFarm]

could she be a cooko maran? not sure i spelled it right but i know we have both and sometimes i cant tell them apart

 

[Kelsie2290]

Townline doesn't carry Doms as far as I know, but she sure looks like one. They are supposed to be smaller than the BRs also. Wonder if they have them in assortments or something and just don't sell them individually and yours just got mixed in with the BR.

 

[acbowers]

I dunno. The comb is much smaller than a Cuckoo. But now that you mentioned it, I wonder if the others are Cuckoo instead? They say they lay chocolate colored eggs so maybe in a few weeks, I'll find out! Lol!

 

[heirloomorps]

It has a rose comb and is probably a Dominique/Barred cross.

 

[acbowers]

I saw that Townline didn't carry Doms so I was intrigued when this "weird" one started growing/developing so differently than the others.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hatcheries have so mixed up, amalgamated the Barred Rocks and the Dominique that there's almost no difference, especially to most people here, between the two except the comb.

The reality is that they are really quite different, but the average person has never seen a true bred, real, honest to goodness Dominique nor have they seen the true bred, honest to goodness Barred Rock. They are remarkably distinct.

My guess is that this bird is simply a "throw back" to its Dom heritage. Again, not surprising.

 

[acbowers]

Fred: I was thinking that it was a recessive Dom trait since there is so much interbreeding between BRs and Doms. Like maybe one in 10 have a bit more Dom in them or something (of course, I have no idea what the ratio really is). She's definitely unique to our flock!