What breed or mix is this?!

[PickinUpChicksSWFL]

Hello Everyone,
We live on a small farm in Southern Florida and have a small-ish flock of chickens and some goat babies. My question this morning is this... we ordered sexed female chicks from a few different breeds from a mail order hatchery back in June consisting mostly of Welsummers, Barred Rocks, Cuckoo Marans, and Easter Eggers (with a few others here and there). As they have gotten older, one of them appears completely unlike any of the other birds. She is getting much larger and her coloring is completely unique.
I know that Easter Eggers are essentially "mutts" with one blue and one brown egg parent, but among all the other Easter Eggers there is at least a slight similarity which makes me think they are from the same or similar crosses (Welsummer or Barnevelder crossed with Ameracauna, for example). With "Cruella," as she has come to be known, that is not the case. She is larger and her main color is white with some black scattered on her body and black tail feathers. She also has gold-tinted feathers around her neck and at the base of her tail. I have attached pictures, but I apologize if they aren't terrific; she is also one of our more "scaredy chickens." I know there is no way to know for sure, but for those experienced with Easter Egger crosses, I would love to hear opinions on what you think her parentage could be. If it weren't for the fact that she was sexed and not straight run, I might even be inclined to think that her "her-ness" is suspect.
Any feed back is welcome as I find her feather coloring quite perplexing, if not striking. Thanks a lot and I look forward to your input.

 

[JedJackson]

Cruella is an Easer egger cockerel. That color pattern is very typical of male Easter eggers, and the bird has male saddle feathers. Probably not what you wanted to read, but so it is.

 

[lilmillefleur]

It's an easter egger cockerel, sorry.
EE's can be made from crossing blue egg layers and brown egg layers, true, but they have been around long before. They are more of a landrace, a random-bred chicken than an actual crossbreed.

 

[PickinUpChicksSWFL]

Now, I did have an inkling that she didn't look quite like a pullet but I guess I wasn't that sure as to question the chick "sexers" at the hatchery. She is almost 5 months old and I definitely agree with the saddle feather observation, but no crowing yet, no spurs, and "her" comb/wattles are pretty non-existent. I know several of our pullets have pea combs, but I thought a rooster would be bigger, even if it weren't the large, red, floppy ones you normally think of when you think of roosters. I'm inclined to agree with you though. Thank goodness if she is a he, we don't have to rehome her. Care to take a guess at the possible breeds of her parents?

 

[lilmillefleur]

Thanks for the info. If you had to make a wager, based on her... his coloring. What breeds might you think we're in his lineage?

His parents are probably also easter eggers, as most EE's are not the result of crossing two breeds, but the result of breeding EE together. So his parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents etc are likely all EE. Like I said, not all EEs are the result of blue egger x brown egger, but rather EE x EE as they actually came first, even before the modern blue egg breeds were created.
I hope you get that, it's complicated and I probably worded it badly...

Also, most easter eggers have small combs, regardless of gender. They are called pea combs.
Even professional sexers usually only get a 90% accuracy rate. So I'm glad you are able to keep him!

 

[lilmillefleur]

Funny enough, we were just talking a few months ago about getting a roo of our own, both for protection as well as to hatch our own chicks. Ordering chicks by mail can be VERY pricey. We had a few broodies so that's why we bought this last batch. We let them, well, her (eventually one of them decided to quit being a mom and the other adopted all 18!) raise them up. Had I known about Cruella, I would have hand raised some of them so he would be a bit more tame/calm/less crazy. I definitely don't want a lap roo, but I would like to be in the same area as him without panic ensuing. At what age should I expect the typical roo stuff? Crowing , challenging me, mointing the ladies, etc? We've owned chickens for several years now, but never a roo.

First of all, a good rooster should never challenge you. Being friendly and/or cuddly towards him actually will sometimes make it so he's overly confident around you, which leads to attacking. Rooster brains are different from peoples', so they interpret the love differently. I do not have first-hand experience but there are many members who do and I highly recommend taking their advice. If your rooster does anything aggressive or challenging, my first recommendation would be the Stew Pot! You could rehome him, but I personally feel that passing problems on to other people is not how to solve the problem. If you don't want panic ensuing, you may just try to be calmer, slower and more predictable around the flock.

Also, talk about expensive! We bought sexed bantam females from MPC and they were like $20 each! They were worth it though, since literally no one else supplies sexed bantams.

 

[lilmillefleur]

Thanks for that! I guess in my mind I pictured those big hatcheries as o my carrying purebred chickens and when they needed more Easter Eggers, they just took a "brown" rooster and put him I with some "blue" ladies (or vice versa) and let them go crazy. I have never really thought of Easter Eggers as a "proper" breed, although now that you explained that, I'm not sure why I didn't. Not proper as in standards, but proper as in a hatchery would keep an actual breeding stock of Easter Eggers that could be second generation (F2), F10, or F50...

Yeah, that's a common misconception. The whole origin of EEs, and the ameraucanas vs araucanas vs EE thing, can really throw people off. I think I have thought and studied this all hard enough to understand it, lol!

 

[leighks]

I got a surprise roo too from an all “female” batch of sexed chicks. Sexing is not 100%, and it’s good they only got 1 wrong!
He’s very handsome.

 

[lilmillefleur]

A follow-up question... since Cruella is a roo, if we want a roo for breeding purposes and we have 35 females, will he be able to handle that load of females, or should we get another roo to ensure fertile eggs?

It all depends on the rooster. Some would totally thrash and abuse 35 hens, while others are perfectly content with just one. I would check the eggs, see if most are fertile, and if not you can try another rooster, just make sure he's gentle with the ladies.

 

[PickinUpChicksSWFL]

Cruella is an Easer egger cockerel. That color pattern is very typical of male Easter eggers, and the bird has male saddle feathers. Probably not what you wanted to read, but so it is.

Now, I did have an inkling that she didn't look quite like a pullet but I guess I wasn't that sure as to question the chick "sexers" at the hatchery. She is almost 5 months old and I definitely agree with the saddle feather observation, but no crowing yet, no spurs, and "her" comb/wattles are pretty non-existent. I know several of our pullets have pea combs, but I thought a rooster would be bigger, even if it weren't the large, red, floppy ones you normally think of when you think of roosters. I'm inclined to agree with you though. Thank goodness if she is a he, we don't have to rehome her. Care to take a guess at the possible breeds of her parents?