This chick has an interesting pattern..

[Shipgirl]

That's definitely weird.

If the rooster is a purebred Cuckoo Marans, every chick he produces should have a black base color. That may be changed to blue or white by genes inherited from the mother, but chicks should never show large amounts of gold (buff, red, and brown are all "gold" for this purpose.)

But if that male must be the father, he must have something different genetically, as compared with what is normally found in a Cuckoo Marans. Maybe he's a mix of some sort, who could be carrying a recessive gene that allows other colors to show.

You're sure he's the father?
No other rooster in the month or so before the eggs were collected?
No young cockerels? Occasionally they start mating at a much younger age than expected.
No new hens, who might have mated with a rooster at their previous home?

There are some silver laced Wyandotte’s she got recently- but those are separated.

 

[Shipgirl]

@NatJ
@MysteryChicken

Just confirmed there are no other roosters and she is sure that the red chicken is the hen. The rooster has never had another yellow chicken hatch before-and she’s had many she’s hatched out. They have only ever been black or black barred.

 

[NatJ]

The marans is the only in the pen, he was purchased from Murray McMurray hatchery as a cuckoo marans.

the only thing I can think of is maybe the hen is one of the others? There is the Colombian, the ameraucana, the cuckoo marans, and I think an Easter egger in there too. No other birds introduced.

The problem is that NO hen should be able to produce a chick with large amounts of gold/buff color when mated to a pure Cuckoo Marans rooster.

That's what has me stumped.

@NatJ
@MysteryChicken

Just confirmed there are no other roosters and she is sure that the red chicken is the hen. The rooster has never had another yellow chicken hatch before-and she’s had many she’s hatched out. They have only ever been black or black barred.

If the other chicks have mostly come from the Cuckoo Marans hen, then that hen probably has the right genes, so nothing odd would come up. The Cuckoo color pattern involves several dominant genes, so a chick getting them from just one parent will look right.

But if he's also producing very many black barred chicks with hens of other colors, then it just doesn't match what I think I know of genetics. So I don't know what to think.

I'll be curious to see photos as this chick grows, and if you do a test hatch of eggs from various colored hens I'll be very curious to see the results of that too.

 

[Shipgirl]

The problem is that NO hen should be able to produce a chick with large amounts of gold/buff color when mated to a pure Cuckoo Marans rooster.

That's what has me stumped.



If the other chicks have mostly come from the Cuckoo Marans hen, then that hen probably has the right genes, so nothing odd would come up. The Cuckoo color pattern involves several dominant genes, so a chick getting them from just one parent will look right.

But if he's also producing very many black barred chicks with hens of other colors, then it just doesn't match what I think I know of genetics. So I don't know what to think.

I'll be curious to see photos as this chick grows, and if you do a test hatch of eggs from various colored hens I'll be very curious to see the results of that too.

Mostly she only hatched the cuckoo marans Roo x cuckoo marans hen before. This is the first hatch with the red hen. I personally haven’t seen her other chicks previously. But she got them from Murray McMurray directly- so unless they have some wonky genes, idk

I told her to hatch out a bunch so I can see what they look like

To her I’m being weird because it’s “just a yellow chick”

 

[NatJ]

I told her to hatch out a bunch so I can see what they look like

To her I’m being weird because it’s “just a yellow chick”

Yes, some people like to figure out what is going on, and some just want to ignore the one weird thing because it's not really bothering them.

If you're able to hatch some eggs, you could ask for some and do the experiment yourself.

 

[Shipgirl]

Yes, some people like to figure out what is going on, and some just want to ignore the one weird thing because it's not really bothering them.

If you're able to hatch some eggs, you could ask for some and do the experiment yourself.

She has an incubator that holds about 300 eggs and over 40 acres for them to roam. I think she’s do it if I asked and just have fun with it

 

[Shipgirl]

Some close ups. Looks like one has a little bit of a crooked beak. The yellow- Now that I look at it close, it doesn’t look barred to me

 

[MysteryChicken]

Some close ups. Looks like one has a little bit of a crooked beak. The yellow- Now that I look at it close, it doesn’t look barred to me

The yellow one is Barred. It's often harder to see on lighter colored birds. Takes a more closer look to notice.

Not yellow, but still not easy to see the barring.

 

[NatJ]

The yellow- Now that I look at it close, it doesn’t look barred to me

I think I might be seeing white barring on the gold/buff colored feathers, but it can be hard to tell on light colored chicks.

Just to check, these looks like photos of 3 chicks? (Yellow, some kind of pattern, black with white barring) Are they all from the "Cuckoo Marans" rooster we've recently been discussing? Or are they the ones from the first post? (Or maybe they're all the same chicks in all the posts and I got mixed up.)

 

[Shipgirl]

I think I might be seeing white barring on the gold/buff colored feathers, but it can be hard to tell on light colored chicks.

Just to check, these looks like photos of 3 chicks? (Yellow, some kind of pattern, black with white barring) Are they all from the "Cuckoo Marans" rooster we've recently been discussing? Or are they the ones from the first post? (Or maybe they're all the same chicks in all the posts and I got mixed up.)

The buff is the only one from the cuckoo marans. The others are the same chicks from original post- just updated pics.

They are supposed to be the australorp roo with cross of hen possibilities:
1. Easter egger( was told ameraucana but thinking it’s just an EE),
2. Wyandotte, (hers are Columbian) but we discussed maybe she has Delaware’s and doesn’t know the difference, hence the barring.
3. Australorp (I think we can all agree they are not pure australorp )