Black Copper Marans plus Buff Orpington = Cuckoo?

[RoosterRiot]

I am postive the father is a black copper Marans and 95% sure the mother is a buff Orpington... But this little guy looks like a cuckoo. How is this possible? Could the BCM have some cuckoo his liniage?

 

[Pyxis]

Do you have any barred hens? Because that looks like it could be a black sex link male. Barring isn't a gene that birds can carry without expressing, unless they are white (in which case they do express it, but it can't be seen in the feathers. I have a leghorn like this).

 

[junebuggena]

Do you have any barred hens? Because that looks like it could be a black sex link male. Barring isn't a gene that birds can carry without expressing, unless they are white (in which case they do express it, but it can't be seen in the feathers. I have a leghorn like this).

x2
Even if a bird only has one barring gene, it will be expressed. The only thing that can 'hide' barring is dominant white.

 

[RoosterRiot]

Hmm. I thought the same thing, but I didn’t know about the dominant
white. The only barred hen I have is a cuckoo marans which would make
sense except 1) this chick hatched 18 days after I got the cuckoo 2)
the cuckoo was previously not with a rooster so the fertilizing might
have taken some time? 3) the egg this little roo hatched out of was
not the cuckoo’s usual dark egg.
I do have what I believe is a mutt white leghorn with some black
specks showing and a heavier build than my pure brown leghorn. She
could maybe be hiding some baring?

 

[junebuggena]

Hmm. I thought the same thing, but I didn’t know about the dominant
white. The only barred hen I have is a cuckoo marans which would make
sense except 1) this chick hatched 18 days after I got the cuckoo 2)
the cuckoo was previously not with a rooster so the fertilizing might
have taken some time? 3) the egg this little roo hatched out of was
not the cuckoo’s usual dark egg.
I do have what I believe is a mutt white leghorn with some black
specks showing and a heavier build than my pure brown leghorn. She
could maybe be hiding some baring?

That looks like 2 different hens. The top bird has a beak with a black tip and white toes, the bottom bird has a solid yellow beak and yellow legs. Did you mistakenly post a wrong picture?
That first one looks like a hen with one dominant white gene. That is what is causing the random small flecks of black. She very well could be hiding a barring gene.
The second picture looks like a splash (a double copy of the blue dilute gene) with very faint barring.

 

[RoosterRiot]

Same hen. Only white one I have. She is 1 year old in top pic. 6 months old in bottom. I think her beak is dirty in the top one. She also has ivory colored eggs instead of the bleach white leghorns are known for. Probably some Rok leaking through. Thanks everyone. I think we solved the mystery. I was really scratching my head on this one.
The father shows no signs at all of having a barring gene and none of his other offspring have shown it either.

 

[donrae]

Good that you solved the mystery....bad that it means the chick is a cockerel

 

[RoosterRiot]

True. But now that I know she has a barring gene I can play around with future combinations and offspring. I recently lost my only barred rock so this hen can fill in.

 

[Pyxis]

It's always neat to learn what genes your birds are carrying. Imagine my surprise when my leghorn threw this guy:

See the barring in the wings? But now that I know she's barred I can play around with it.

This is what that chick has grown up to look like, if you're curious:

 

[donrae]

True. I love mixing barred birds. I had a bsl cockerel as my flock rooster for years, and bought CCL and Rhodebar hens just to see what happened. Well, life happened and I wasn't able to hatch. Sold the CCL hen, but am looking at the Rhodebar thinking her eggs will be in the next incubator batch.