What Combos Are We?

[Kezzie]

Hi, all! Was wondering if you could takes some guesses for me. These are my first homestead chicks. I donated the eggs to the school and six of 12 have hatched so far. We have 2 chipmunk, two solid black with black legs, and two black and white with dark legs. Here are the combo choices:

Male: Dark Cornish with Females: Dark Cornish, Americauna, Cuckoo Maran
Male: Cuckoo Maran with Females: Americauna (2 different ones), Cuckoo Maran

I wish the pictures were better but any thoughts you experienced chick hatchers have would be great! I didn't watch the hatch but the teacher said all of the black and black/whites came from the Americauna eggs but I don't really know if that's accurate. She said the chipmunks came from brown eggs. I believe that all of my Americaunas (they're really McMurray Easter Eggers) lay blue/green.

 

[Pele]

Chipmunk chicks are stumpers at first, and usually need to feather before people can tell which breed they are. Being that these are hatchery birds, I'll guess the most common breeds sold at hatcheries:

The black ones with white spots on their heads are Barred Rocks
The black ones with white chests and no spots on their heads are most likely black sex-links
The chipmunk chicks are most likely Easter Eggers (hatcheries love to mislable then as Americauna or Araucanas, which are expensive and exlcusive breeds)

Hope that helps a little!

 

[Kezzie]

Quote:
Thanks for replying. I have no Barred Rocks or BSLs in the mix. I put the possibilities above...

 

[sfw2]

I wonder if your Dark Cornish rooster over a Cuckoo Marans hen would produce sexlinked chicks?

 

[Pele]

Sorry about that, I didn't see the listing and I think the flash washed them out a bit. Those are barred babies, and would be the cuckoo marans. And yes I believe that the dark cornish over Cuckoo would produce the sex-links as long as the cuckoo is carrying the silver gene (which I believe they do).

I still say the most likely choice for the chipmunks is EE, but they are difficult to tell apart at that age. It slightly possible that they are the dark cornish chicks, but they look too light to me to qualify.

Hope that clarifies things!

 

[Kezzie]

Quote:
Wouldn't the chipmunks have green or slate legs if they were EEs?

 

[Pele]

Unfortunately EEs are a very mixed genetic bag because there is no breed standard. Your average EE has a muff, green legs, lays blue/green eggs, BUT any of these features can be absent and the bird could still qualify as EE. There have been a couple of people here on BYC that have posted pics of an EE with yellow legs. It isn't common, but it happens.

I can't wait to see your chicks grow up more. The ID'ing should be super easy for the chipmunks in another week or so when they have feathers. Keep us updated!