what will my baby chick look like as an adult?

[April2020]

HI, this is my first time raising baby chicks, I am having a hard time figuring out what they are going to look like, the rooster is a black standard Cochin and the hen is a buff orphington, can anyone help?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Buff is a strange one. It has some genetics that can do strange things to black. I sometimes get in trouble trying to predict what will happen when you mix buff and black, but where is the fun in being ”chicken” and not guessing.

What I’d expect to see is that the adult will be black where you see black down. Where you are seeing yellow down, you will possibly see different things. If that Cochin rooster has silver hiding under the black (which is a pretty good possibility) that yellow down may turn into white feathers. I’ve also seen chicks with some yellow down and some black down wind up solid black in the final plumage.

If that Cochin has gold hiding under that black instead of silver (not likely but possible) you could wind up with a buff or maybe more of an orange tinted buff where you are seeing that yellow down. If it were reversed where the black cochin was the hen and the buff orp was the roo, this is what I’d expect. But with your combination, I think you are most likely looking at a black and white or maybe an all-black bird. But that all-black bird could easily have a few white feathers scattered around its body.

Not real definite I know, but it should be fun watching it feather out. After its second juvenile molt, say maybe 15 weeks, you should have a pretty good idea what it final plumage should be.

 

[April2020]

thanks for your input it will be interesting to see