What sex are chicks and breed is mum please?

[mandy63]

Hi I was hoping for some help sexing these 5 week old chicks and to find out what breed mum is. Mum was rescued after being abandoned at a property as well as dad....dad is a Wyandotte.

 

[mandy63]

http://[URL=http://s1376.photobucke...ads/IMG_20151219_165046_zpssfnozm0a.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

 

[mandy63]

http://[URL=http://s1376.photobucke...ads/IMG_20151218_120012_zpsm11vo5ed.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

 

[mandy63]

 

[CochinLover1]

Mum is an eater egger. She looks a lot like some of the Easter eggers I have at home. The black chick looks like a cockerel. One of the barred chicks looks like a pullet and the other one looks like a cockerel. A good way to tell at this age is the size of the wattles and comb. If the wattles and comb are big and red, cockerel. If the comb and wattles are smaller and not as bright red, pullet. Once they get older you will notice that the cockerels will begin to grow shiny long tail feathers, known as sickles, and saddle feathers on the back which are also longer and shiny. pullets will not have these . If the combs and wattles are big and red at this age but they don't grow the cockerel feathering and they seem to "grow into" their wattles and combs, it's a faster maturing pullet. Hope this helped.

 

[junebuggena]

Those chicks did not have a Wyandotte father. Wyandottes have rose combs that are dominant over single combs. Mom looks like a silkied Cream Legbar. The silkie gene is recessive, so both parents need it. The father had to have both feathered legs and carry a silkie gene.
Having said that, all those chicks look male. Those combs are way too pink, too early for pullets.

 

[mandy63]

Those chicks did not have a Wyandotte father. Wyandottes have rose combs that are dominant over single combs. Mom looks like a silkied Cream Legbar. The silkie gene is recessive, so both parents need it. The father had to have both feathered legs and carry a silkie gene.
Having said that, all those chicks look male. Those combs are way too pink, too early for pullets.

 

[mandy63]

Not sure where I was told dad was a Wyandotte but having just looked it up based on your comment and I stand corrected he is not. He does have some feathering on his legs. I suspected that the three are male.

 

[Kev]

Wow, pretty cool birds, not too often you see silky feathered birds on non-silkies.

They are all extremely mixed up though, to have those colors, body type and especially plus the silky feathering.

It is an extremely common mistake to assign breed guesses solely based on color but the reality is chicken color genetics is exactly the same for all chickens, there is no reason a mix cannot have the color of "breed X or Y" and not have a single drop of "X or Y".

The only reasonable safe breed to guess as being part of the mix is silkie, due to the silky feathers and probably the leg feathering also. There probably will be some who like to say it cannot be so, because these have no crests, extra toe or the dark skin but the reality is, those traits are very easily lost through mixing.

The other possibility but rather unusual, is the silky feathering coming via a deliberately made "silkie- something" such as silkie feathered cochins, silky Japanese bantams etc. Those exist but are pretty rare/hard to find, silkies are extremely common so they are really the default guess for silky feathers.

There are several separate genes for leg feathering, as a result it is not so easily lost through mixing, it typically persists in a mixed flock with sparse or light leg feathering on almost random birds in the flock.

If you favor the silky feathers, it is a recessive trait so a cross with normal feather bird will produce normal feathered chicks but all will be carriers. Breeding one of these with a silky feather will give you half normals half silky feather.... (the one silky feather chick tells you the father was a carrier, more evidence for a very mixed flock)

I agree all chicks look male.. if the black one is bred with the hen, all chicks will be silkie feathered.

 

[donrae]

With those yellow legs, clean face, straight comb and white earlobes, I'd be very surprised if Momma lays a colored egg, unless cream Legbars are common where you live. she's missing all the common Easter egger characteristics.

Agree you have mixes of mixes, especially for the chicks. It's also possible the chicks aren't biologically momma's, if there were other hens around. If more than one rooster was present, it's quite likely there are separate fathers also.

I agree all the chicks are cockerels.

The silkie feathering could be fun to play around with