Wierd bump on head ? Chick breed?

[Rdh1223]

More pics of the chicks

1) snowball - can't tell
2) henny-penny - red cross ?
3) chicky - golden comet ?
4) Dale - egger ?
5) thunder - blue australorp ?
6) storm - egger ?
7) penguin - egger? Blue Australop?

 

[NatJ]

The types I thought I purchased

1) starlight green egger
2) easter egger
3)olive egger
4) prarie bluebell egger
5) blue australorp
6) Golden comet
7) red cross

From that list, I can sort them into a few groups:

2) henny-penny - red cross ?
3) chicky - golden comet ?
4) Dale - egger ?

These three have a lot of red or brown in their coloring.
They should be the Golden Comet, the Red Cross, and probably the Starlight Green Egger, since those seem to generally be red/brown as well.

I think that you are probably right about Chicky being the Golden Comet, because they often have white in their tails and the big feathers of their wings. That would leave Henney-Penney and Dale to be the Red Cross and the Starlight Green Egger. I do not know for sure which is which, but you could easily be right about Henney-Penney being the Red Cross, which would leave Dale as the Starlight Green Egger.

5) thunder - blue australorp ?
6) storm - egger ?
7) penguin - egger? Blue Australop?

These three all have blue in their coloring.
I would expect one to be the Blue Australorp.
I can't see their combs in the photos, but I can say that an Australorp would have a single comb. So if any have not-single combs, those ones are something else.

Australorps should have white soles on the their feet (typically shows on the toes as well). Any chick with yellow soles on the feet would be one of the other types. I think I see two with white toes, maybe three (I'm less sure about Penguin). So that doesn't help very much.

That leaves these types to go with two blue ones plus Snowball:

2) easter egger
3)olive egger
4) prarie bluebell egger

I would expect to see pea comb on the Prairie Bluebell Egger, and maybe on the Easter Egger and/or Olive Egger. All three of those have a chance of muff/beard on the face as well. The Easter Egger and Olive Egger have a chance of crested heads too.

Any of those three kinds could have blue feathers, so the coloring doesn't rule anything out there.

Sometimes hatcheries cross Cream Legbars with other breeds to create Easter Eggers and Olive Eggers, and that produces chicks with a crest on their head (although it usually lays backward rather than standing up and sticking forward like Snowball's.) But Snowball could possibly be an Easter Egger or Olive Egger.

 

[Rdh1223]

From that list, I can sort them into a few groups:



These three have a lot of red or brown in their coloring.
They should be the Golden Comet, the Red Cross, and probably the Starlight Green Egger, since those seem to generally be red/brown as well.

I think that you are probably right about Chicky being the Golden Comet, because they often have white in their tails and the big feathers of their wings. That would leave Henney-Penney and Dale to be the Red Cross and the Starlight Green Egger. I do not know for sure which is which, but you could easily be right about Henney-Penney being the Red Cross, which would leave Dale as the Starlight Green Egger.



These three all have blue in their coloring.
I would expect one to be the Blue Australorp.
I can't see their combs in the photos, but I can say that an Australorp would have a single comb. So if any have not-single combs, those ones are something else.

Australorps should have white soles on the their feet (typically shows on the toes as well). Any chick with yellow soles on the feet would be one of the other types. I think I see two with white toes, maybe three (I'm less sure about Penguin). So that doesn't help very much.

That leaves these types to go with two blue ones plus Snowball:


I would expect to see pea comb on the Prairie Bluebell Egger, and maybe on the Easter Egger and/or Olive Egger. All three of those have a chance of muff/beard on the face as well. The Easter Egger and Olive Egger have a chance of crested heads too.

Any of those three kinds could have blue feathers, so the coloring doesn't rule anything out there.

Sometimes hatcheries cross Cream Legbars with other breeds to create Easter Eggers and Olive Eggers, and that produces chicks with a crest on their head (although it usually lays backward rather than standing up and sticking forward like Snowball's.) But Snowball could possibly be an Easter Egger or Olive Egger.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look and post your thoughts. I guess time will tell about snowball lol and which ones are roosters. I'm totally new to the chicken thing, I guess I kind of thought by buying different chicken that they would be more easily identifiable. My initial thought was go to tractor supply, get 6 rhode island reds and be done but was afraid we wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

 

[Rdh1223]

Also for anyone interested the reason there are 7 is because Agway in Danbury, CT was doing a buy 6 get 1 free. Helping the new folks get started with the chicken math. Not sure if they still are having a sale or if it's only that agway.

 

[NatJ]

Thanks for taking the time to have a look and post your thoughts. I guess time will tell about snowball lol and which ones are roosters.

I agree, time will tell

I'm totally new to the chicken thing, I guess I kind of thought by buying different chicken that they would be more easily identifiable. My initial thought was go to tractor supply, get 6 rhode island reds and be done but was afraid we wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

Some breeds are easy to tell apart, some are not (as you have seen!)

When you are buying chicks in person, you can sometimes pick ones that look different than each other. For example, a group of Easter Egger chicks might have some that are brown with stripes (like Dale) and some that are gray with stripes, along with some that are solid colors. So picking a stripey brown one and a solid gray one will give two that grow up to look different, while picking a solid gray from each of two different breeds might get two that grow up to look alike even though they are not the same kind.

If you had gotten 6 Rhode Island Reds, you probably would have been able to tell a few apart: one might be a lighter or darker red than the others, another might be the biggest or smallest, one might have a comb that is different by being large, small, crooked, folded, or some other difference. Colored legbands are another way to keep them straight.

But I agree that having visually distinct chickens is fun, and I have a personal preference for mixed flocks

 

[gimmie birdies]

Spitzenhauben.

 

[NatJ]

Spitzenhauben.View attachment 3800801

I agree, the chick in the first post looks a lot like a Spitzhauben.
I suppose it will become more obvious one way or the other as it grows older

 

[Rdh1223]

Just checked the list of chicks in stock at that store, Spitzhauben chicks were there..... maybe the young lady grabbed from the wrong spot

 

[NatJ]

Just checked the list of chicks in stock at that store, Spitzhauben chicks were there..... maybe the young lady grabbed from the wrong spot

That sounds likely. Or maybe the chick was in the wrong spot.

 

[Rdh1223]

Updated pics @ 4-5 weeks