What breed am I?

[MinnesotaNice]

I got some new chicks as most of my first flock are looking to be roos (I bought them as a straight run). Bummer! These are sexed pullets....we'll see. I specifically asked for two olive egg layers, 4 Ameraucana and 2 Araucanas from a hatchery. I think I got a run of mixed breeds. I know the olive egg layers are a cross, but the rest look just like my first mixed breed run of chicks. I'm no chicken professional, but I do my share of googling Regardless of what they are, they're now part of our chicken family. However, any insight would be greatly appreciated! Here's a few of the chicks:


#1




#2




#3




View of all 8 chicks




#4




#5




#6




#7

 

[Blackberry18]

They do look like a flock of mixed chicks. Both Aracaunas and Ameraucanas are pure-bred, but you could have just gotten Easter Eggers, like the Olive Layers. Ameraucanas have several specific colors, while Easter Eggers can be a mixture of shades. Aracaunas have no tail.

 

[Varglet]

They look like a bunch of random different breeds. Hatcheries won't have TRUE Ameraucanas and Araucanas, they would be Easter Eggers that might lay anything from pink/tan to green or blue eggs. These chicks don't even look like Easter Eggers to me (can't see all of the pictures because my internet is slow).

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Cute little bunch - there are a couple puffy cheeks here and there and the last one may well be one of your OE as they could have a feather shanked Marans parent in there to contribute the dark brown shelling for OE results. As pointed out above, Araucana and Ameraucana are not actually sold by retail hatcheries (Meyer is the one I can think of that has Ameraucana - true Ameraucana - and the charge per chick is considerably more than for those that are actually EE - $15 per chick I believe).

With regards to whether your chicks are or are not even EE, the thing about EE is that, because they are mixed breed birds, there is no one standard way an EE should look. While they generally have facial feathering - many are clean faced, many have pea combs - but some are single combs, green legs is a very common trait - but there are EE with legs that are not green -- nature of mixed breed birds when the only real characteristic used in selecting parent stock is that one has the blue egg genetics is that the results can be heavily varied.

Ultimately, you won't really know what you have until they start to feather out and, in some cases, possibly not until they start to lay.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

Thanks for the info so far - I figured they were mixed breeds, but I would only be guessing. I was looking for egg color when I got these chicks, so hopefully I get some olive and blue eggs somewhere somehow.

From what I've seen of Easter Egger chicks, I didn't notice the same traits with this bunch, either. However, like mentioned, there's no standard. Cute little things, though! Hopefully, the extra money I paid for pullets works out. It's already looking like majority of my initial 13 straight run chicks are roos.

 

[BantamLover21]

Cute little bunch - there are a couple puffy cheeks here and there and the last one may well be one of your OE as they could have a feather shanked Marans parent in there to contribute the dark brown shelling for OE results. As pointed out above, Araucana and Ameraucana are not actually sold by retail hatcheries (Meyer is the one I can think of that has Ameraucana - true Ameraucana - and the charge per chick is considerably more than for those that are actually EE - $15 per chick I believe).

With regards to whether your chicks are or are not even EE, the thing about EE is that, because they are mixed breed birds, there is no one standard way an EE should look. While they generally have facial feathering - many are clean faced, many have pea combs - but some are single combs, green legs is a very common trait - but there are EE with legs that are not green -- nature of mixed breed birds when the only real characteristic used in selecting parent stock is that one has the blue egg genetics is that the results can be heavily varied.

Ultimately, you won't really know what you have until they start to feather out and, in some cases, possibly not until they start to lay.

x2

 

[Wyandottes7]

Cute little bunch - there are a couple puffy cheeks here and there and the last one may well be one of your OE as they could have a feather shanked Marans parent in there to contribute the dark brown shelling for OE results. As pointed out above, Araucana and Ameraucana are not actually sold by retail hatcheries (Meyer is the one I can think of that has Ameraucana - true Ameraucana - and the charge per chick is considerably more than for those that are actually EE - $15 per chick I believe).

With regards to whether your chicks are or are not even EE, the thing about EE is that, because they are mixed breed birds, there is no one standard way an EE should look. While they generally have facial feathering - many are clean faced, many have pea combs - but some are single combs, green legs is a very common trait - but there are EE with legs that are not green -- nature of mixed breed birds when the only real characteristic used in selecting parent stock is that one has the blue egg genetics is that the results can be heavily varied.

Ultimately, you won't really know what you have until they start to feather out and, in some cases, possibly not until they start to lay.

x3