Recent content by NatJ

Yes, looking for short faces and tidy lips is more obvious in adult dogs than in puppies. For any breed that is known to have loose lips and drool a lot, the lips are much more obvious in photos of adults than in photos of puppies. If you get a puppy from a breeder, you can make some guesses by...

I saw that OP did not want a dog that drools, and did not want a brachycephalic (short-nosed) dog. The short-faced ones are obvious as soon as you look at them, so no trouble avoiding them at a shelter. For drooling, you want to avoid any dog with loose dangly lips. A nice trim muzzle, with...

I don't see any reason to doubt the breed (Barred Rock for all), and I agree that two look like males and one looks like a female.

Depending on what breeds are in the flock, they probably have different mothers and may have different fathers as well. So they might not be related to each other at all, despite hatching at the same time.

Can you get pictures of your friend's breeding stock? That might provide the answers. I think the lighter one is what happens when you add Dominant White (turns black into white) to the darker one. In a week or two, when they grow some feathers, that detail should become clear: wing feathers...

I've seen some people recommend "Genetics of Chicken Colors" by Sigrid Van Dort. Apparently it has nice photos, and a discussion of the genetics involved in creating those colors in chickens. I haven't read it myself, because my local library does not have it, and I haven't been willing to spend...

I agree with @Amer: That would mean the babies grow up to look more-or-less like one of the parents. The mother is female, shows gold, is frizzled. The father is male, shows silver, is not frizzled. The chicks could have any combination of those: male/female, gold/silver, frizzled/not.

I was vaguely aware of that forum, because of the recurrent threads on "I have too many eggs. Please suggest recipes!" That is where they tend to be located. But it's not a place I usually spend much time, so I'm glad @U_Stormcrow gave a link. I do find that new thread interesting.

To quote just one part, at least on my desktop computer, I quote the whole thing, then click with the mouse to put my cursor inside the quoted part and delete what I don't want. Then I click outside the quote to be able to type the answer. Yes and no. If the feet turn yellow in time, then yes...

5 looks like a rose comb to me in that photo. For 2, I think single (straight) comb is more likely, but I can't completely rule out pea. It does look too narrow to be rose. :lau

Do the Icelandic and the Spitzhauben both have crests? Because if only one has a crest, and if the chick then grows a crest, that might be one way to check parentage. The chick's comb does appear to be split in two at the back, so I think it probably does have the V comb gene. But I do not...

If the EE has a crest, then any chick that grows a crest could be hers, or could be from the Cream Legbar. None of the chicks is showing a crest yet. When they grow head feathers is when you will be able to tell if they have a crest or not. Splash refers to chicks with two copies of the blue...

Can you post a picture of the EE hen? The chick with white barring is a male. He is the son of the Cream Legbar, unless the EE has white barring, in which case he could be her son instead. Any chick that grows a crest of feathers on its head, must have a parent with a crest of feathers on the...

During the night when the chickens are sleeping inside the coop, having the chicken door open will probably not change whether a predator breaks into the run or not. Some predators are active in the early morning. Chickens in the run might encourage a predator to try to break in. If the...

Chicks will probably have combs that look sort-of like a buttercup comb. I've read that some chicks may look like they have a single comb, even when they do inherit the V-comb gene from one parent. These chicks should get the genes for V comb, pea comb, and rose comb. At a guess, it will...