Unexpected color on chick

[HorseDad]

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Hello I am new here and I have a question that I haven't been able to figure out the answer to (and it might be a simple answer, but I'm also new to having my own birds). I've attached pics, I hope I've done it right, of the birds in question, though the newest one is still in the incubator and so that picture might not be the best. Anyway!
My boy there is some kind of Araucana/EE mutt, I do not know what he is but the picture of the two chicks together is him and his brother as babies. He had that really cute dark chipmunk pattern there and as an adult he's black and red and I Think but I'm not sure that he's got gold instead of silver going on? Anyway his feet are slate (or blueish? I'm not sure how to word it, and the hen's feet are yellow with a bluish overlay).
The barred hen is a cuckoo maran, I'm pretty sure, though she's got some gold around her neck there and her sisters have a bit more.
The thing is, from the little I know, I thought that if a non-barred rooster was paired with a barred hen, that the babies would be sex linked with the hens being solid and the roosters having that spot on their heads.
But the baby there is white! I need to get better pictures of him, but the reason I know who his parents are is because only the boy there (Monkey) had that chipmunk pattern as a baby and I know all the hens by their eggs so I know who laid the egg he came out of.
And he isn't entirely white either, because of the chipmunk pattern. Right now I can't tell if it's dark brown striping or black but either way I didn't expect him to look like he does.
I'm so sorry for the wall of text explanation of everything but I was wondering if you guys had any ideas about why he looks like that! And maybe even what color he might grow up to be? Because he also has pink feet and I was reading somewhere about shank color and how it can be connected to sexing but I'm still not totally sure I understand. Thank you for reading if you got this far!

Hmm. Whenever I hatch a cross between my aunt’s black chicken with feathery legs (not sure of breed) and her Rhode Island Red rooster, I get a bird with either partial or completely feathered legs, and brown or orange highlights! (Not complete barring, I think it’s cuckoo ) these are some pictures of one of my birds

 

[Worm94]

Basic things I've found:
The e-locus has a big effect on what colors go where on the chicken, even more for the hens than the roosters.
genes
Pg, Ml, Db, and Co are genes that can also have quite an effect on patterning and color arrangement. They interact in various ways with each other, and also with the e-locus. Cha does a bit too.

I will check these specific ones out for sure more in the coming days. I have been very busy indeed with the bunch of chicks, and my roommate took a bunch of pictures to add as my camera hasn't been working so well!
To add text though and context to some of these new patterns showing themselves: The last chick in that first set of pictures-- The yellow one with the black/brown chipmunk striping is also one of the barred (cuckoo) hen's chicks! I know this because I had to help that one hatch, as it had pipped on the wrong side and then gotten stuck for some time. So this is the second chipmunk (that I've confirmed is hers, at least) that she's given us.
There are two chicks with almost identical chipmunk patterns, the dark two together, but their feathers appear to be coming in different colors as well. There is a third, I don't think we got a picture of it yet but it has the most complete chipmunk pattern of all of them and its feathers seem to be coming in somewhere between the colors of the other two.
Then there's the mystery bunches, some of which have feathered feet and some of which don't, but that whiteish one gets me more than anything because I have absolutely no idea what that could be.
The red chick seems to be developing blue and buff feathers also. Actually there are a couple with varying hues of reddish fluff but their feathers all seem to be coming in either a pale blue or some combination of blue and buff, which I haven't ever seen before.

I am going to, tomorrow, play around with the calculator some more I think, specifically with how blue plays into things.
I know for a fact there are only three possible roosters though, and there are the buff Brahmas, Light Brahmas, and the cuckoo patterned hens (though I am no longer sure they are even Marans).
Of those roosters, one is the EE Mutt, one is the blue mystery boy with the gold (I think, at least) leakage in his decorative back and neck feathers, and one is the Ayam/Leghorn cross and I know as well that he can probably only be the father of blue, black, and white chicks (the white ones get little black feathers mixed in).
So then it comes down to the blue rooster and the EE mutt, and I really think they both have chicks in this mix.
I'm going to keep the closest eyes on the ones I can confirm at least one side of the parentage on, of course.

For the chipmunk striped one that you said is blue and white: I suspect it might have the Silver gene (rather than gold). It is pretty common for chicks with silver to look grayed-out compared with gold versions of the same pattern. Of course it might also have blue.

I know the chipmunk stripes can mean EE, but thanks to you (and looking through the forum) I know it means a lot of things, or can.
If the chipmunk striped one grows up to be a rooster, will it display a duckwing pattern if it's one or the other? I am sorry if that seems like a stupid question, I am still figuring things out re: that pattern, especially since multiple of my chicks display it to varying degrees.

The yellow chick, and the one I posted earlier who are both chicks of the one specific cuckoo hen are going to be the most interesting though, that and the little white one and the one who looks like she's wearing a sweater vest (I'm pretty sure that is a Brahma chick because of her toes, but she is the only one that looks the way she does).

Hmm. Whenever I hatch a cross between my aunt’s black chicken with feathery legs (not sure of breed) and her Rhode Island Red rooster, I get a bird with either partial or completely feathered legs, and brown or orange highlights! (Not complete barring, I think it’s cuckoo ) these are some pictures of one of my birds

Those are super cute babies, I'd really like to see how they look growing up! And yeah the feathered feet help me figure out who's the parent to who, to an extent (But! The blue rooster had a few feathers on his feet as a chick, that eventually fell out and never came back, so that does not help as much as I wish it did).
Anyway, do they keep that barring at all, and if so, does it show differently on the males vs the females?

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

I will check these specific ones out for sure more in the coming days. I have been very busy indeed with the bunch of chicks, and my roommate took a bunch of pictures to add as my camera hasn't been working so well!
To add text though and context to some of these new patterns showing themselves: The last chick in that first set of pictures-- The yellow one with the black/brown chipmunk striping is also one of the barred (cuckoo) hen's chicks! I know this because I had to help that one hatch, as it had pipped on the wrong side and then gotten stuck for some time. So this is the second chipmunk (that I've confirmed is hers, at least) that she's given us.
There are two chicks with almost identical chipmunk patterns, the dark two together, but their feathers appear to be coming in different colors as well. There is a third, I don't think we got a picture of it yet but it has the most complete chipmunk pattern of all of them and its feathers seem to be coming in somewhere between the colors of the other two.
Then there's the mystery bunches, some of which have feathered feet and some of which don't, but that whiteish one gets me more than anything because I have absolutely no idea what that could be.
The red chick seems to be developing blue and buff feathers also. Actually there are a couple with varying hues of reddish fluff but their feathers all seem to be coming in either a pale blue or some combination of blue and buff, which I haven't ever seen before.

I am going to, tomorrow, play around with the calculator some more I think, specifically with how blue plays into things.
I know for a fact there are only three possible roosters though, and there are the buff Brahmas, Light Brahmas, and the cuckoo patterned hens (though I am no longer sure they are even Marans).
Of those roosters, one is the EE Mutt, one is the blue mystery boy with the gold (I think, at least) leakage in his decorative back and neck feathers, and one is the Ayam/Leghorn cross and I know as well that he can probably only be the father of blue, black, and white chicks (the white ones get little black feathers mixed in).
So then it comes down to the blue rooster and the EE mutt, and I really think they both have chicks in this mix.
I'm going to keep the closest eyes on the ones I can confirm at least one side of the parentage on, of course.

I know the chipmunk stripes can mean EE, but thanks to you (and looking through the forum) I know it means a lot of things, or can.
If the chipmunk striped one grows up to be a rooster, will it display a duckwing pattern if it's one or the other? I am sorry if that seems like a stupid question, I am still figuring things out re: that pattern, especially since multiple of my chicks display it to varying degrees.

The yellow chick, and the one I posted earlier who are both chicks of the one specific cuckoo hen are going to be the most interesting though, that and the little white one and the one who looks like she's wearing a sweater vest (I'm pretty sure that is a Brahma chick because of her toes, but she is the only one that looks the way she does).


Those are super cute babies, I'd really like to see how they look growing up! And yeah the feathered feet help me figure out who's the parent to who, to an extent (But! The blue rooster had a few feathers on his feet as a chick, that eventually fell out and never came back, so that does not help as much as I wish it did).
Anyway, do they keep that barring at all, and if so, does it show differently on the males vs the females?

So far, all my weird Hybrids have looked like hens. It’s hard to tell on some younger ones, but so far I have had five. One died, so that sucks, but the two younger ones (like the picture) have brown that I think will get a little lighter over time, and the two older ones look like hens. One is beautiful, with bright fiery orange seeping through the black feathers, whilst the other is really runty, has an unusual body shape, and is missing feathers in some places (always like that) I can still see the orange feathers on the breast tho.

 

[NatJ]

I know the chipmunk stripes can mean EE, but thanks to you (and looking through the forum) I know it means a lot of things, or can.
If the chipmunk striped one grows up to be a rooster, will it display a duckwing pattern if it's one or the other? I am sorry if that seems like a stupid question, I am still figuring things out re: that pattern, especially since multiple of my chicks display it to varying degrees.

Chicks with chipmunk stripes can grow up to have the Duckwing pattern, but they can also grow up to have other patterns.

Some examples that I have seen personally:

Dark Cornish are double laced, but have chipmunk-striped chicks.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/dark_cornish.html

https://www.idealpoultry.com/product/1550/2#
Spangled Russian Orloffs seem to be black tailed red in color, with white mottling on them.
I couldn't find a very good picture of the chicks, but I ordered some from Ideal Poultry in the past, and the chicks were stripey little cuties.

Buckeyes are Black Tailed Red (much like Rhode Island Reds), but the ones I ordered from Cackle Hatchery in the past were striped as chicks, instead of the more solid red that RIR chicks usually are. They did grow up to have the correct coloring as adults. (The online photos I find are not showing the striping I remember, so maybe it is not consistent across all lines of them?)

"Duckwing" pattern can still have striped chicks when they have white barring (Crele) or mottling (Spangled Old English Game Bantam). Of course Cream Legbars have the striped chicks too, with the Duckwing pattern and white barring and some other modifiers.

I haven't seen these in person, but the photos look like they have stripey chicks:
https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/brassy-back-old-english-game-bantam/
The adult photos look sort of like duckwing but not exactly.

For all of these^, I think the stripe are coming from e+ at the e-locus.
Some other chicks will have at least partial stripes too.
Examples would be Rhode Island Reds (sometimes a dark stripe on the head) or Laced Wyandottes (often have stripes along each side of the back, but the head markings are different.)
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/silver_laced_wyandottes.html
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/golden_laced_wyandottes.html

Anyway, do they keep that barring at all, and if so, does it show differently on the males vs the females?

I know you are asking about someone else's chicks here, but I will comment: it is fairly common for chick feathers to have a different pattern than the adult feathers of the same bird. I've seen quite a few chicks that had crosswise stripes on their wing feathers as chicks, but not as adults, that did not have the barring gene. So stripes on the wings is sometimes just a chick pattern. I remember it being particularly obvious in some chicks that were a partridge or multi-laced pattern: they had brown and black stripes running across their feathers as chicks, but that switched to the correct concentric stripes when they grew older (stripes that went around the edge of the feather, not across the middle.)

I've also seen multi-colored speckled patterns in the feathers, especially the wings, of chicks like Rhode Island Red that grow up to be a solid red. I suspect it is like the spots on fawns that disappear when they become adult deer: camouflage for the babies.

I will check these specific ones out for sure more in the coming days. I have been very busy indeed with the bunch of chicks, and my roommate took a bunch of pictures to add as my camera hasn't been working so well!

I'm enjoying the photos of all the different chicks, and thinking and speculating about the color genes involved.

I know for a fact there are only three possible roosters though, and there are the buff Brahmas, Light Brahmas, and the cuckoo patterned hens (though I am no longer sure they are even Marans).

Knowing the entire list of parents does make it a bit easier to narrow down the options.

Of those roosters, one is the EE Mutt, one is the blue mystery boy with the gold (I think, at least) leakage in his decorative back and neck feathers, and one is the Ayam/Leghorn cross and I know as well that he can probably only be the father of blue, black, and white chicks (the white ones get little black feathers mixed in).

I agree about the Ayam/Leghorn cross, unless he's got something really suprising in there.

So then it comes down to the blue rooster and the EE mutt, and I really think they both have chicks in this mix.

I think you are probably right about that.

I'm going to keep the closest eyes on the ones I can confirm at least one side of the parentage on, of course.

Yes, those should be easier to identify what is happening, and may help figure out what genes each of the parents has.

And yeah the feathered feet help me figure out who's the parent to who, to an extent (But! The blue rooster had a few feathers on his feet as a chick, that eventually fell out and never came back, so that does not help as much as I wish it did).

Yes, feathered feet can help with figuring out the parents. As regards the blue rooster who had a few feathers on his feet as a chick: I don't think he could produce a chick with large amounts of foot feathering if the mother had clean legs, but he probably could produce a chick with small amounts.

 

[Worm94]

Chicks with chipmunk stripes can grow up to have the Duckwing pattern, but they can also grow up to have other patterns.

So I've been playing around in the calculator again, the cross-breeding one, (And I do quickly fall out of my depth of understanding and just put in random things) but I did get it to generate chicks that are varieties of colors (Though I do not think any of my birds are chocolate and I do not know what I clicked to cause that one).
At any rate, it's at least given me a pretty good idea that -- yea, black and blue and especially barring can hide a range of colors.
Mostly it seems to mean that all the current chicks I can identify as having come from the blue rooster and barred hens have to be hens, since no matter what I put in, all the boys in that generator would still be barred. It's funny, despite putting in eggs from all the barred hens, we got absolutely no barred babies. That means any boys will be Brahmas and thus feather (and possibly feet color) sexable (so long as the feathering genes are correct).

I will hold them to being hens and I will see how they turn out. I'll also take more pictures of course! But probably not for a week or so, so there's actual progress in their feathers to document.
I also did reading on autosomal red because I saw it in another thread and got curious. One of the chicks that came from a barred hen and the ayam cross roo has about six feathers of a very pale red on her back and I wonder if that's what that is.
If so, then could my EE also be a carrier? I'd assumed he had heterozygous silver given the yellowish tint of his saddle and neck feathers and how white his head is, but I don't know; after reading about autosomal red I am less sure about that. Then there's mahogany, which I am still trying to understand.
The brassy old english game pattern is neat, because I've seen similar patterns in hens even if they're totally different breeds (at least in terms of color distribution).

I've also seen multi-colored speckled patterns in the feathers, especially the wings, of chicks like Rhode Island Red that grow up to be a solid red. I suspect it is like the spots on fawns that disappear when they become adult deer: camouflage for the babies.

And yeah, I remember how disappointed I was regarding a chick's color being different than the adult when the EE went from a lovely dark brown color to totally black (And revealed he was a rooster and not a hen! Someday I will have colorful eggs, someday ).

As regards the blue rooster who had a few feathers on his feet as a chick: I don't think he could produce a chick with large amounts of foot feathering if the mother had clean legs, but he probably could produce a chick with small amounts.

Given this, I'm also going to assume lightly feathered feet (that is, one or two little feathers and not the full feathering I've seen on the probable Brahma chicks) are from the blue rooster and not necessarily Brahma chicks.
And of course, thank you for explaining all of these things! I'll attach a better picture of my blue rooster as well, cause I think he's pretty (though his color is not reddish at all in real life and my camera didn't seem to pick up on that).

So far, all my weird Hybrids have looked like hens. It’s hard to tell on some younger ones, but so far I have had five.

I am so sorry to hear one didn't make it, but it's good to hear the rest are healthy! Do keep me updated on their growth and everything, I'm super curious how they'll turn out as grownups.

 

[NatJ]

So I've been playing around in the calculator again, the cross-breeding one, (And I do quickly fall out of my depth of understanding and just put in random things) but I did get it to generate chicks that are varieties of colors (Though I do not think any of my birds are chocolate and I do not know what I clicked to cause that one).

Chocolate:
You probably selected choc (the normal form is Choc+)

At any rate, it's at least given me a pretty good idea that -- yea, black and blue and especially barring can hide a range of colors.

Yes, they certainly can do that!

Mostly it seems to mean that all the current chicks I can identify as having come from the blue rooster and barred hens have to be hens, since no matter what I put in, all the boys in that generator would still be barred. It's funny, despite putting in eggs from all the barred hens, we got absolutely no barred babies. That means any boys will be Brahmas and thus feather (and possibly feet color) sexable (so long as the feathering genes are correct).

That is very interesting, to have that many females. Sometimes random chance does produce an odd clumping of genders.

I have also read that some hens produce mostly male or mostly female offspring, although for most hens it should be close to 50/50 if you hatch large numbers. I remember one hatch of chicks, all from the same mother and father, that included had 2 females and 7 males. I don't think I hatched any other batches of chicks from that hen, so I never learned if she would do that reliably or if it was a one-time oddity.

I will hold them to being hens and I will see how they turn out. I'll also take more pictures of course! But probably not for a week or so, so there's actual progress in their feathers to document.

I also did reading on autosomal red because I saw it in another thread and got curious. One of the chicks that came from a barred hen and the ayam cross roo has about six feathers of a very pale red on her back and I wonder if that's what that is.
If so, then could my EE also be a carrier? I'd assumed he had heterozygous silver given the yellowish tint of his saddle and neck feathers and how white his head is, but I don't know; after reading about autosomal red I am less sure about that. Then there's mahogany, which I am still trying to understand.
The brassy old english game pattern is neat, because I've seen similar patterns in hens even if they're totally different breeds (at least in terms of color distribution).

I have read some articles about autosomal red, but I don't completely understand it. At a very basic level, it is red/gold that can appear in a chicken that has the sexlinked Silver gene (turns gold to white). Because we already have a sexlinked gold gene, and this other thing is inherited in a not sex-linked fashion, it is called "autosomal."

As regards your EE, I can't tell for sure yet, but his daughters may answer that question. I think you said he was the only bird in the entire flock that could have the blue egg gene. So if you get any pullets that lay blue or green eggs, then he must be their father. If he has the gold gene, about half of his pullets should show gold (much easier to see if they do not have large amounts of black.) If he is pure for silver, then all his daughters will have silver as well.

And yeah, I remember how disappointed I was regarding a chick's color being different than the adult when the EE went from a lovely dark brown color to totally black (And revealed he was a rooster and not a hen! Someday I will have colorful eggs, someday ).

Assuming he has the gene for blue eggs, his daughters should be able to provide you with some

Given this, I'm also going to assume lightly feathered feet (that is, one or two little feathers and not the full feathering I've seen on the probable Brahma chicks) are from the blue rooster and not necessarily Brahma chicks.

I would assume that too.

And of course, thank you for explaining all of these things! I'll attach a better picture of my blue rooster as well, cause I think he's pretty (though his color is not reddish at all in real life and my camera didn't seem to pick up on that).

Yes, he is pretty. I see what you mean about the color-- I might have guessed he was dun or khaki rather than blue, based on the color I see in the photo. (If you want to play with that gene, look for Dominant White which has a capital I abbreviation, and try some of the other genes in that list. The normal form that allows black is i+)

 

[Worm94]

I have also read that some hens produce mostly male or mostly female offspring, although for most hens it should be close to 50/50 if you hatch large numbers. I remember one hatch of chicks, all from the same mother and father, that included had 2 females and 7 males. I don't think I hatched any other batches of chicks from that hen, so I never learned if she would do that reliably or if it was a one-time oddity.

I didn't know that hens could produce mostly one or the other, that's super cool actually! I have a sneaking suspicion so far at least, that Matilda (one of my cuckoo girls) may give me more hens than roos though, if that is the case. None of her chicks, since they're not barred, can be boys, after all and she's given me around 3-5 chicks (I am unsure of all of them but I know for a fact two so far and I suspect a couple more).

I think you said he was the only bird in the entire flock that could have the blue egg gene. So if you get any pullets that lay blue or green eggs, then he must be their father. If he has the gold gene, about half of his pullets should show gold (much easier to see if they do not have large amounts of black.) If he is pure for silver, then all his daughters will have silver as well.

As to the EE, yes if he has that gene I am very much looking forward to his daughters. They'd lay green eggs though, as far as I can tell, since he came out of one. The only real question then of course is, dark olive green or pale green. Either way it is an exciting thought (and I did hear the colorful egg gene is dominant somewhere) but only time will tell.

And now I shall dump a whole bunch of updated pictures of the chicks I've found most interesting color-wise! There's gonna be a lot (Plus a slightly better more accurate picture of Goose (blue roo).
The thing with him though is he was blue up until his saddle feathers and everything else came in; he was a very light and pretty blue color.

Now he does have that interesting gold (or something like it) overlay (and this time I managed to get my camera to pick it up), but I genuinely don't know if that changes what color he should be called. I don't think he's dun or khaki but I could be wrong, since I don't know much about those colors. [EDIT: I did look up Khaki and I've changed my mind because I think he actually could be!
Putting that into the generator also drastically changes the output!]
His only confirmed daughter so far is a really pretty blue (albeit with a little bit of black splotches here n there but nothing too bad Edit: I also suspect that the reddish chicks are his, specifically the one with Matilda as the mother).
Now onto the chick pictures! (They are all just about a week and a half old, with exception of the two older ones).

This last one being a confirmed Matilda chick
+the two older birds (just under 5 weeks now) update here below, one being the Brahma cockerel and the other being the first confirmed Matilda chick (so she has to be a pullet, both of the Matilda chicks do).

So for me some of the most interesting things happening so far are that the reddish ones are getting a lot of light gray + very light buff feathers in! That and none of the chipmunk-esque chicks look the same, and even if they did initially they are feathering in different shades of similar colors (a couple are brahma related, at least one isn't). Matilda's first chick up there, the older pullet, is a darker color than her second chick with the mostly yellow down and that dark stripe on her head (and is feathering in darker too)! I wonder if they have different dads or if it's just that the parents carry a bunch of different genes and not everyone's getting the same ones. Either way it's super cool!

 

[NatJ]

As to the EE, yes if he has that gene I am very much looking forward to his daughters. They'd lay green eggs though, as far as I can tell, since he came out of one. The only real question then of course is, dark olive green or pale green. Either way it is an exciting thought (and I did hear the colorful egg gene is dominant somewhere) but only time will tell.

Yes, his daughters would probably lay green eggs rather than actual blue, but I agree about not knowing what shade of green. In general, the ones with mothers that lay dark brown will be more likely to lay dark green, and the ones with mothers that lay light brown will be more likely to lay light green.

Yes, the blue egg shell gene is dominant (which means a hen will lay colored eggs if she has even one copy of the gene.)

...a slightly better more accurate picture of Goose (blue roo).
The thing with him though is he was blue up until his saddle feathers and everything else came in; he was a very light and pretty blue color. View attachment 3802114
Now he does have that interesting gold (or something like it) overlay (and this time I managed to get my camera to pick it up), but I genuinely don't know if that changes what color he should be called. I don't think he's dun or khaki but I could be wrong, since I don't know much about those colors. His only confirmed daughter so far is a really pretty blue (albeit with a little bit of black splotches here n there but nothing too bad).

I don't really know what to say about the rooster, except that he is definitely interesting!

Now onto the chick pictures!....

So for me some of the most interesting things happening so far are that the reddish ones are getting a lot of light gray + very light buff feathers in! That and none of the chipmunk-esque chicks look the same, and even if they did initially they are feathering in different shades of similar colors (a couple are brahma related, at least one isn't). Matilda's first chick up there, the older pullet, is a darker color than her second chick with the mostly yellow down and that dark stripe on her head (and is feathering in darker too)! I wonder if they have different dads or if it's just that the parents carry a bunch of different genes and not everyone's getting the same ones. Either way it's super cool!

Definitely an interesting mix!
And yes, chicks that are sort-of chipmunk striped can sometimes grow up to have an amazing variety of colors and appearances.

Yes, there is a good chance of some chicks having different fathers than others, although the ones in the most recent photos probably do not have the White Leghorn/Ayam Cemani rooster as their father (I would expect just black or white chicks from him, not stripey ones. But we've already seen stripey chicks from hens that "should" not produce any, so I suppose I shouldn't rule out that rooster either.)

 

[Worm94]

So! @NatJ
It is update time!
the first one up there is a Brahma chick I think, second one came from our cuckoo barred hen and I am almost certain her father was the blue (or Khaki! because I did go and research a bit and he looks like he is actually Khaki. I had edited that post but I'm not sure it updated in time). She has a darker reddish tone in her wings than the brahma chicks that are showing buff-ish colors at this stage.

this one is also a brahma chick, and the next one below is also, though I think 'sweater vest' may turn out to just be a messier light columbian pattern of some sort. Also very skittish. Took less pictures this time overall but tried to focus on the ones standing out the most!

(also not the most cooperative little chicken! Much attitude! )
EDIT: I put the wrong picture there, I didn't manage to get any pics of the chipmunk chicks this time because they were all pretty skittish and I will post those in the next update. I thought I'd gotten one but it was just one I'd already got a pic of. Anyway!

Then there's the chick who hatched with solid light reddish down and is now displaying a Brahma-esque comb (since the combs are visible now and somewhat helpful) and he (it may be a he considering the size of that comb) is coming in very striking buff and black. Don't mind the reddish stain on my hand there, I had scratched myself on something earlier

And finally the older chick (the one who is also the cuckoo barred hen's daughter). She hasn't changed a whole lot honestly, darkened a bit here n there but that's about it.

Her chest has stayed light though.
The brahma boy didn't have any remarkable changes (at least, I think Brahma. But the one thing that's making me somewhat doubt that is his comb is single and his feet aren't super feathered. The only hens we have are those Brahmas and the cuckoo ladies thus far. Then again, the khaki(?)blue(?)rooster had very lightly feathered feet as a chick so that isn't super helpful-- as I mentioned before ).
Also not helpful is the fact that that single comb could still indicate Brahma since my Brahmas are most likely not pure. Anyway I hope these updates prove at least somewhat interesting! Will continue them whenever I see more changes for sure