Who's the mother?

[Squeaket]

These are some pictures of our mystery chick, hatched under my broody hen "Susie".

The father is the hands on devil shown in my avatar picture, he is 3/4 australorp 1/4 EE. The options for mother are australorp, buff orp, barred rock, and one that is an identical mix as the dad. I can't figure out how we ended up with a mostly white chick.

2 days old

5 weeks old

P.S. I know little to nothing about chicken genetics.

 

[Squeaket]

Handsome, not hands on. Darn auto correct.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

The "odd man out" coloration you are seeing is all EE -- given that dad has EE in him and you have at least one hen that also has EE in the mix that is no surprise. Either it's all coming from dad or your EE mix hen contributed an egg to the clutch. Since EE are a mix breed as it is you have three (or more) breeds coming from dad's side of the equation to begin with and possibly 3 more from mom's if it is your mix hen, so you can see how you really can't predict much about what you would get from that.

 

[donrae]

The "odd man out" coloration you are seeing is all EE -- given that dad has EE in him and you have at least one hen that also has EE in the mix that is no surprise. Either it's all coming from dad or your EE mix hen contributed an egg to the clutch. Since EE are a mix breed as it is you have three (or more) breeds coming from dad's side of the equation to begin with and possibly 3 more from mom's if it is your mix hen, so you can see how you really can't predict much about what you would get from that.

this. gotta love recessive genes.

 

[Squeaket]

That makes sense I guess. If it was both my mixed breeds, it's interesting the she doesn't have puffy cheeks like both parents. Are muffs and beards not a dominant trait?

 

[donrae]

In my experience, they're an incomplete dominant. That's not scientific, just my own mixed breeding with EE in the mix.

Something genetic, though, is that all chickens are genetically gold or silver, so even though your rooster looks black, he must have silver in the genes.