Who's Their Momma? Mad Scientist-Bred Offspring Questions...

[paloozaparty]

I hope that I'm posting in the right topic thread... I've been a chicken companion since June 2019. Over quarantine, I successfully incubated a batch of 9 eggs from 3 of my hens. I tried to correctly select 3 eggs from each hen (Black Sex Link, Golden Sex Link, Brahma) that were fertilized by our Ameraucana rooster. FIVE of the 9 turned out to be boys (that I had to rehome due to permit regulations). Of the 9, 5 were from the Brahma--I'm pretty sure--as they all looked like her coloring around neck and saddle (to my total surprise as I thought I knew FOR SURE which eggs were / are hers--I was wrong). At any rate, one of our neighbors has the only pullet from our Brahma (the other 4 Brahma's were the boys) and I have 3. Here's my questions:

1) Two of my pullets are brown with black tipped feathers. What do you call that black tip on the feathers? Is it the "lace"? I don't think so, but thought to ask. And, what is their feather color called--the brown--is it brown, or red? Or?

2) Who is the mother of the 2 brown ones? And, can someone explain their lineage to me--I know that the rooster is responsible for passing on the color--but, since I don't know for sure what made their dad, I also can't guess which one is their mom??? I know that they're mutts and have muffs like Ameraucana / Araucana--presumably from on their dad side, but they both have feathered legs, and I can NOT find confirmation that the sex links or their dad passed on the feathered legs??? Whereas the Brahma has feathered legs? The brown girls are also large in size compared to the sex links... but, not sure also if the dad passes along size, too?

3) The solid / all white pullet--someone previously (kindly) explained that she's likely from the red / golden sex link because it took a white leghorn hen to make the golden sex link... so, assuming then that the solid white got bred "back" to the grandchild? She laid her first egg this past week, and they're a beautiful green.

4) On a sidebar note... I'm attaching pics of our eggs--I'm in a quandary as to who is laying vs. not--including the fact that our Brahma hen recently completed her first molt, and has terrible looking comb--I read that she's likely NOT laying eggs right now--and, her horrible looking comb reinforces that assumption... All of the eggs (even if being laid by the other 2 hens)--are NOT the usual color (which I also read should be lighter during warmer months vs. now due to reduction of production)--and, for SURE (as of today, even) I am pretty sure that the tiny white/pale peach egg/s are from at least ONE of the pullets--though, for SURE I am almost 100 percent sure that the green egg is from the ALL white pullet--I expected the brown pullets to also lay shades of green eggs--tho, I'm guessing that one or both are laying the tiny pale peach eggs? AHHHH

4) To confirm--the local feed store (oldest in Colorado, so I've been giving them a little more credit than I'm sure y'all will...) insisted that the roo (who was supposed to be a GIRL) is an Ameraucana--can you please let me know what you think he is / lineage?

I'm learning WAY TOO MUCH about chickens--Rainman level... but, no ability to answer my own questions... THANK YOU for taking the time to read / help me!

 

[paloozaparty]

Bonus imposing question... I thought to include pics of the 5 cockerels and 1 pullet that I've assumed this whole time are from the Brahma hen and the Ameraucana roo??? If anyone says otherwise, feel free to let me know if I mis-diagnosed any of these offspring!!!

The one unlabeled photo has the 2 (pullet in back) that I hatched for our neighbor...

 

[Egghead_Jr]

All the birds with feather on legs came from Brahma. Once you eliminate those there are few left with clean leg. How about you only post pics of the clean legged birds you wonder who the dam was.

That's a really dark egg in your photo. Is it coming from the black or red sexlink? What color leg, bottom of feet does the black hen have?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

White pullet is from the red sexlink, other two are from the Brahma. There isn’t really a way to describe their color pattern, since it’s mixed, but you could call it “brown” or “red”. I guess you could also call it messy buff columbian, but that’s not exactly what it is, either.
As for your rooster, he’s an Easter egger, which are almost always mislabeled as “americanas” or ameraucanas by hatcheries.

 

[paloozaparty]

White pullet is from the red sexlink, other two are from the Brahma. There isn’t really a way to describe their color pattern, since it’s mixed, but you could call it “brown” or “red”. I guess you could also call it messy buff columbian, but that’s not exactly what it is, either.
As for your rooster, he’s an Easter egger, which are almost always mislabeled as “americanas” or ameraucanas by hatcheries.

Thank you very much! Can you determine the roosters coloring? I really can't find anything even close! Ps he won Best in Variety at the 2020 Western Stock Show (lol)

 

[paloozaparty]

All the birds with feather on legs came from Brahma. Once you eliminate those there are few left with clean leg. How about you only post pics of the clean legged birds you wonder who the dam was.

That's a really dark egg in your photo. Is it coming from the black or red sexlink? What color leg, bottom of feet does the black hen have?

Thank you! I'll try to get better photos and will look at the black sex links foot souls! So far, the white pullet is the only one worth clean legs/no feathered legs or feet...

 

[paloozaparty]

Thank you very much! Can you determine the roosters coloring? I really can't find anything even close! Ps he won Best in Variety at the 2020 Western Stock Show (lol)

Ps because I don't understand enough about chicken genetics (yet can you explain--if you know-- if the 6 black and white ones (pictured in my comment to my own post)--who all look like they're from the brahma-- why would there be 2 random brown ones that also came from the brahma? Because this is also what I'm wondering--if the browns are from the brahma--but seems inconceivable that the 2 brown ones would look the opposite of the black and white ones? WHY AM I SO OBSESSED WITH FIGURING THIS OUT

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Thank you very much! Can you determine the roosters coloring? I really can't find anything even close! Ps he won Best in Variety at the 2020 Western Stock Show (lol)

The Easter egger? For one, he’s silver/gold split (“golden”), which is how he passed on gold/red to his daughters. He’s also probably incomplete columbian and he might have some duckwing genes in there.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Ps because I don't understand enough about chicken genetics (yet can you explain--if you know-- if the 6 black and white ones (pictured in my comment to my own post)--who all look like they're from the brahma-- why would there be 2 random brown ones that also came from the brahma? Because this is also what I'm wondering--if the browns are from the brahma--but seems inconceivable that the 2 brown ones would look the opposite of the black and white ones? WHY AM I SO OBSESSED WITH FIGURING THIS OUT

There are two main sex-linked color genes in chickens- gold (aka red/brown/buff/etc) and silver (aka white). Roosters can have two of these genes but hens can only have one. So, a rooster (like your EE) can be gold/silver split, meaning that he has a gold gene and a silver gene. He can then pass on a gold gene or a silver gene to his offspring. However, the silver gene usually covers up the gold gene, so silver/gold split roosters usually look mostly silver (despite the fact that they also have the gold gene) with yellowish leakage and some red on their shoulders.
So, all your EE’s sons are either gold/silver splits (mostly silver with some yellowish/red leakage) or have two silver genes, making them completely silver (like your light brahma hen). The EE’s brown daughters, who can only have one gold or silver gene, didn’t get the silver gene from their silver mother. They got their father’s gold gene, and since they can only have one of those genes, they’re just gold instead of being silver/gold split.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

3) The solid / all white pullet--someone previously (kindly) explained that she's likely from the red / golden sex link because it took a white leghorn hen to make the golden sex link... so, assuming then that the solid white got bred "back" to the grandchild? She laid her first egg this past week, and they're a beautiful green.



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To elaborate on what the other poster told you- there’s a gene called “dominant white”. Red sexlinks do have dominant white from their leghorn parentage. Dominant white is what makes the neck feathers and tail feathers of your red sexlink white. Here’s the thing- dominant white is called “dominant” because it covers almost all black feathering. It turns black feathers into white feathers. So, it’s very likely that your white pullet got the silver gene from her father (which is why she doesn’t show any red coloring) causing her to be silver columbian (the same color as your Brahma). However, with the added dominant white gene from her red sexlink mother, the black feathers that would’ve been on her neck and tail were replaced with white, resulting in an all white bird.