I have a broody Black Jersey Giant (BJG) hen a Black Jersey Giant rooster, as well as Americana, Starlight Green Eggers, and Clinamen Queen Hens. I successfully convinced the broody hen to move to a separate straw bale nest area outside of the hen house nest boxes where I could fence her off separately. The eggs that I moved with her to the new nest area were from different hens, as evidenced by the various colored eggs. She successfully hatched 7 chicks. All of the 3 week old chicks look almost identical, mainly black with light colored breast feathers and a very limited amount of non black feathers here and there. Some are certainly BJG X BJG and some are mixed breed. The question is - how can they be so identical in coloring when the eggs are from at least 3, maybe 4 breeds of hen? I would have expected some to be solid black like the hen and rooster and other variations between the chicks based on the differing breeds of hens. Does anyone have an explanation or theory on this?
Really looking forward to seeing the size and coloring of these birds when mature.
Really looking forward to seeing the size and coloring of these birds when mature.
