What's my Identity? Please?

[Mama Hen Chris]

Hi BYCers,

When I decided what breeds I wanted at the feed store, I asked for 2 Speckled Sussexes to be part of my brood. They looked almost identical. They were 4 days old. They now both look completely different. Josephine has "willow" colored legs ( I call them greenish) and different colored feathering. What is your vote?


Josephine-4 days old

Hazel-4 days old

Josephine- 21 days old

Hazel- 21 days old

Josephine-almost 5 weeks

Hazel-almost 5 weeks

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

Hazel is looking like a Speckled Sussex. Josephine may well be an easter egger. That would be the most common choice for green legs. I can't quite tell, does she have a pea comb? You would expect Easter Eggers to have pea combs, and Sussex to have straight combs. It looks like Hazel's comb is straight.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

Thanks for the answer Phil. I was leaning towards that as well. But the comb is the issue. Josephine's comb looks like a straight comb not a pea. She is not a fan of the camera but will try to snap another of the top of her head. Maybe she is a Heinz 57!

 

[jeslewmazer]

I Agree Hazel looks like a Speckled Sussex and Josephine looks like a EE.

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

I had the pleasure of hosting a few dozen EE's this summer, and depending on the hatchery, single combs are not that uncommon.

Unfortunately the single combs are usually the brown/pink layers which are generally precisely what people don't want when buying EE's.... but sometimes the straight combed ones can lay green eggs too.

If she came from a feed store, and thus a big hatchery, it's probably an Easter Egger, regardless of comb.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

We are happy with our Josephine even though she isn't the Speckled Sussex we wanted. Hubby wanted chickens who lay brown eggs so if we get a color other than brown, we will know exactly who laid it. I would think the person at the feed store would know which breeds were which. Oh well, we now have 2 Black Australorps, 1 Speckled Sussex, 1 EE and 1 Delaware. Adding 2 more chicks on Friday. Picking up my GLW and SLW. Am excited!!

Hazel, Apolonia, Sophie, Josephine & Bridget

 

[featherz]

"Apolonia" looks kind of like 'Apollo' to me.

Cute chickies!!!

 

[BeardedLadyFarm]

Quote:
I believe there is a boy in the bunch too!

It's all too common that feed store staff don't really know much about the chickens they're selling. Unless they personally have kept dozens of chickens and seen hundreds of chicks, it's an easy mistake to make. There is a feed store near me that does and EXCELLLENT job of keeping varieties separate and clearly marked, but that's because they keep over 20 varieties at a time and they have a real chicken expert heading it all up. This is in sharp contrast to the high school aged help I see at TSC and some less organized feed stores. Soon you'll know more than they do!

 

[Tiffrz-N-Kidz]

Josephine looks a bit like my mixed color Phoenix did at that age. They have slate legs, too.

 

[danischi24]

Quote:
Agreed.