Will these gray chicks keep their color? BA roo Partridge Rock hens.

[la dee da]

Hey everyone! I have a Black Australorp rooster, Black Australorp hens, and Partridge Rock hens. I let a couple hens hatch some eggs, and to my utter surprise, three grey and yellow chicks hatched! They’re absolutely lovely, and I’m in LOVE with them.

Does anyone know if they’ll keep the gray as they grow?

 

[la dee da]

The chicks are 5 days old in the photo.

 

[la dee da]

Those chicks look to be lavender. The weird thing is I'm not aware of that gene being in Australorps. I'm not saying you're wrong on the breed, but is there any chance the parents could be black split lavender Orpingtons?

On the plus side, I'm going to say that they will certainly keep that light color. Lavender is such a pretty color, those are going to some beautiful birds!

I bought them from Sandhill, so I'm quite certain they're at least Australorps. They also look different from the (admittedly hatchery) Buff Orpingtons I had last year. That said, I can't be sure. It's exciting to think that they should keep the color!

I wanted to keep back an Australorp rooster to replace the jerk I have now, but I'm not so sure anymore. Could I stand having a black rooster over a lavender one if one of these chicks is a roo ?

I suppose chickens are like cats: the moment you think they're predictable, they throw you a curveball .

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

I hadn’t even realized that the black and white chicks could be odd. Their parents also had black and white along with the black and yellow (I looked back at last year’s pictures to confirm it). Could the black and white ones be the parents of the lavender/gray chicks? I took some more pics of this year’s chicks, though my camera couldn’t get too accurate with the colors (the chick with an all-yellow head sometimes looks white). I’ll post the pics once they upload.

If the parents had that much white and yellow as chicks, then it must just be a fluke. It's normal for black chicks to have yellow or white bellies and chins, it's just not that common for it to extend up to the top of their heads.
I don't think it has anything to do the the lavender, they just looked suspiciously like mottled chicks with the white and yellow heads so I'd though you might also want to pay attention to those. Mottling would be another gene that would hide in the parents since it's recessive, but again, if the parents showed the same coloration then I would say it's just individual variation.

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

I was doing some digging on Sandhill's website trying to figure out how both lavender and possibly mottling got into what was assumedly Australorps and I found something. If you look at their Mottled Orpingtons listing, they state that they will be "black and white or grayish." What they don't say is whether it's blue or lavender causing the coloring. I would have guessed it would be blue since it's dominant and easy to get in a line. In their image of those Orpingtons though, they have a gray one and I'm inclined to say it's lavender. While the image is not great, it appears that the hen is lacking the darker hackles seen in blues. If other's want to chime in, it would be appreciated. If that's the case, then both of the genes you may be seeing may have occurred when a Lavender Mottled Orpington got into the Australorp pen. The other option is a Lavender Orpington or Mottled Orpington got into the other's pen, and they sold you the chicks from that crossing as Australorps.
Either way, this is only if the chicks have mottling. If they do not, then we can assume that the mix involved a Lavender Orpington. I do 100% agree that the birds you have are likely mixes.

Also, if your rooster is aggressive cull him. You've already hatched out a bunch of offspring and it stands to reason that one of the offspring with the interesting genes he has will be a male. There's no point in keeping a rooster that is trying to harm you or stressing the hens, he's not doing his job and there are better out there.

 

[la dee da]

Hey everyone! I have heard back from Sandhill (a while ago, but the family’s been sick), and this is what they said:

“Both breeds have outside runways one is in building 7 the other 9 with building 8 in between and neither breed ever has gotten out to my knowledge. I did get a new rooster last year and wonder if he brought in some ugly genes. I kept all of the chicks from this weeks hatch to study, but have never seen what you describe but am definitely going to keep an eye out.”

So it sounds like their new rooster may be the “contaminated” one. I don’t know why they called the genes ugly, but I suspect it was frustration with their gene pool being no longer pure. I certainly don’t think these chicks are ugly!

It’s odd that they haven’t noticed any gray chicks from that hatch. Should I email them back and tell them that the gray was showing at hatch, so they don’t waste any time? Could my gray chicks be the partridge rock/australorp mixes after all?

Editing because I just realized something: my gray chicks are the second generation from their new rooster; should I remind them of that and suggest they test his babies by growing them out and breed them? Or do you think it would be offensive to suggest they didn’t figure that out on their own?

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hopefully they do!!!

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

Those chicks look to be lavender. The weird thing is I'm not aware of that gene being in Australorps. I'm not saying you're wrong on the breed, but is there any chance the parents could be black split lavender Orpingtons?

On the plus side, I'm going to say that they will certainly keep that light color. Lavender is such a pretty color, those are going to some beautiful birds!

 

[la dee da]

Do you have any other hens or roosters who could be the parents?

The girls (and boys before they were processed) look like all the partridge rock photos I see. There are only australorp and partridge rocks in my flock (assuming they're true to breed), and only one rooster, the australorp. I have six australorp girls and four partridge rock girls, plus the rooster.

My coop isn't big enough for many more, so I was only going to keep back one or two hens and a rooster to replace the jerk. These chicks are the first generation from this flock, so I haven't done anything that could make a hidden gene express itself other than let two broodies hatch eggs so I could get a replacement rooster.

I may be able to get pictures of the flock. They're free range, but I've trained them to a call that makes them come running.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Lavender is recessive, so I can't imagine partridge rocks would throw that color. I was wondering if maybe your australorp was a very dark blue. I don't see blue australorps on Sandhills website, but that doesn't mean they aren't working on them. Or possibly they're working on lavender australorps and your rooster and at least one of your hens is split to lavender.

However these genes got into your flock, the grey chicks are definitely some kind of dilute and should feather out with grey in their feathers as adults.