Trying again with this girl's breed-any ideas?

[Ksane]

I posted 3 or 4 months ago about this girl right after I got her and some said Gold Necked Marans and 1 lady said Crele (?). She's about 5-6 mo old now and is pretty good sized, she's going to be a little bigger than my sex links and she's already taller than them. She was sold to the girl I got her from as a Marans, we don't know though.
Can anyone hazard a guess as to her breed? I've got her in with 4 Cuckoo Marans and she looks to have the same pattern as them except for the gold neck (but I'm far from an expert with color patterns). You can see the other Marans girl in the background.

 

[jeslewmazer]

She looks like a mix to me.

 

[Chinchilla2]

Quote:
She looks a bit like some of the Marans girls over there on the Marans board. Don't know if there is such a variety as a Gold Necked Marans but she does resemble some of the Black Copper pullets. You might try posting a pic of her on those boards and see if anyone can help you out.

 

[Ksane]

Good suggestion, Chinchilla. I hadn't even thought of that, duh lol

 

[BlazeJester]

She definitely has barring; maybe a cross between black copper marans and cuckoo? But of course genetics is not as simple as just a meshing of colors. Beautiful bird, either way! Does she lay dark brown eggs?

 

[Ksane]

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She hasn't started laying but she's close to it.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

she has no feathers on her legs though?

 

[kari_dawn]

cuckoo marans don't either...and lots of other marans varieties are also clean legged. I have three black copper marans, and one has like two feathers on each leg. Apparently the UK version was bred to be clean legged.

 

[Kev]

It is a mix. Marans are a white skinned breed. This hen has *yellow* skin which is a honking huge flag it's not a pure Marans nor could it be a cross- because yellow skin is recessive which means BOTH parents had to be at least a yellow skin carrier. Basically, a pure Marans crossed with yellow skinned bird still would throw all white skinned birds...

The "gold neck" on her is very typical of a cross between a black and either brown/red/gold chicken. For example, black sex links from cross of RIR and BR will produce blackish pullets with varying amounts of color on the neck/chest.

Ultimately may never know what she is exactly. Possibilities are Barred rock roo bred with RIR hen(which can make this exact match as for feather color plus yellow legs. This is the reverse of the typical black sex link mating which HAS to be a RIR roo over barred rock hens otherwise the chicks won't be sexable at hatch), or two sex links bred together, or even maran cross parents bred to each other and so on...

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Quote:
interesting...