What kind of Orpy is this?

[lucidmom]

So we bought eggs from an Orpy breeder in NY. When they hatched 2 of the chicks looked funny. They were 3 weeks old last Sat and Sun. As they have started growing their feathers in, they are grey with light horizontal stripes, their beaks are yellow and so are the feet.The breeder said possible barred orpys and that she has only seen it a few times, one in her flock last year. They are definitly orpingtons. Could they be cuckoo? If not, are the barred orpingtons unusual, or rare? What do you all think?

 

[kari_dawn]

...with the yellow legs, I think I am going to say it's a barred rock and not an orp...

 

[lucidmom]

The seller has assured me that it is an orpy. There was no cross breeding. Her Orpy roosters are in with just her Orpy hens.

 

[kari_dawn]

are orpingtons the only breed she has?

what color orps does she have in the breeding pens?

 

[lucidmom]

She has some silkies in a seperate pen, and a orp/cornish btm cross, also in a seperate pen. This is what she has told me when I let her know. "they are all orps their is no possibility of cross breeding...but i can tell you the lavender orp gene also carries a barring gene, i have had a few from my orignal lavender flock from hinkjc farm hatch looking like a cuckoo." Her girls are blue, splash, lavender and white and the roos are lav splits, one is a blue and the other is black, both are off spring from my old lav roo who was directly from hinkjc.

 

[lucidmom]

. Sorry, ("both are off spring from my old lav roo who was directly from hinkjc.") This was a quote from her listing. They are from her old lav. not "mine".

 

[hinkjc]

Hi there. I just saw this so my apologies for a late response, but I thought it may be helpful to others in understanding how genetics work. Our Lavender does not carry the barring gene, but white does. Since this person has white hens breeding their lavender, they should expect barred chicks. Mixing colors does not produce consistent results, so it is not unusual with that many colors in a pen to produce varied colored chicks. I hope this helps clarify why you got a chick this color.

 

[speckledhen]

I once got a completely barred chick from a blue Orp rooster over my RIR/Buff Orp hen, but the blue Orp came out of Sandhill Preservation lines, a hatchery who used Rocks at some point in time to offset inbreeding and apparently, he inherited a barring gene. You can actually see it in his sickle feathers, which are vaguely barred. On rare occasions, he'll even throw a chick with yellowish legs, too.