Chick color

[MamaBirds_Quail]

Babies are 7 days old/just starting to feather. Almost all of them have wild-type striping to some degree, though many have more silvery marks, and few have red/brown.

Possible parents are: Pearl Fee, Italian, Pansy, Pharaoh.

These babies have VERY similar patterning (very faint silvery striping down the head toward the tail) but one is pale yellow, the other is distinctly orange. Is this Fee vs. non-fee? Or is the orange chick also het for roux? A GPC baby? I hear GPC is a possible result from Pearl fee so I assume we’ve got some silver/GPC— the pale chick I’m thinking is a Snowie (which is a Pearl Fee plus silver/blue gene, yes?)

Are these Pansy? These two have chaotic black markings, there are some wild-type stripes, but also spots all over the head, they have black skin spots around their eyelids and beaks (no black skin on feet), and some larger splashes of black on their flanks behind their wings. Wings are coming in black and white.

It’s the face mask, for me! There’s 2 of them that have this raccoon look … why am I naming all these birds after predators?! i have one I named Possum already

Here’s the other brand of “orange” I have— this one has little to no striping, but her wings seem to be growing in silver? She also looks like her underside will be white/lighter which makes me wonder if the orange is an actual color. Manchurian, perhaps?

I don’t believe ANY of these are Pharaoh, or even falb fee; I’m fairly certain all will be mostly white/light birds, which is kind of why the color variations have me so perplexed! You’d think they’d look more similar

 

[vall]

I thought snowie was double fawn (Italian) plus fee but I could be wrong. It is hard to tell pearl fee vs Italian at that age - need a couple more days. That very light one could be a pearl/snowie. Definitely no pharaoh or FF. Mine are a week old too and more feathered out - I'd remove the mealworms. Game bird starter only! I don't have Pansy so can't help with that one.

 

[MamaBirds_Quail]

Update! 19 have made it to a month! We hd some weather setbacks so they’re in a pop up dog kennel (genius idea! Best $15 ever spent on a teen brooder!) in the bathroom.

Check these colors!

The two darkest do indeed look like Pansy (likely Pansy fee)

I have 3 with silver diluting that otherwise look like the Pearls (so they’re snowie, yes?) including everyone’s favorite weirdo: POSSUM!

Here’s an awesome fee vs non-fee side by side!

But then I have this incredibly orange fella, and I have no idea what this is! is this what autumn amber looks like?

 

[MamaBirds_Quail]

Remember that big orange-y chick? He continues to be large and orange check out that red head, though! So distinguished a gentleman!

This is my sons favorite “Taco”… she’s got the girlie chin strap all the other hens have, but it’s orange! Some of her “Pearl” speckles are also orange

Possum continues to enjoy sleeping in my hand, but “he” is now very clearly a *she*! I can’t tell if she’s expressing silver, or roux over her Pearl, anyone have a guess?

I also read somewhere that Pansy can be sexed by head? Does anyone have a guess on these birbs? They’re the only two who aren’t obviously feather sexable from the whole lot

 

[Nabiki]

Remember that big orange-y chick? He continues to be large and orange check out that red head, though! So distinguished a gentleman!View attachment 3288811

This is my sons favorite “Taco”… she’s got the girlie chin strap all the other hens have, but it’s orange! Some of her “Pearl” speckles are also orange
View attachment 3288814

Possum continues to enjoy sleeping in my hand, but “he” is now very clearly a *she*! I can’t tell if she’s expressing silver, or roux over her Pearl, anyone have a guess?
View attachment 3288817

I also read somewhere that Pansy can be sexed by head? Does anyone have a guess on these birbs? They’re the only two who aren’t obviously feather sexable from the whole lot


View attachment 3288824
View attachment 3288830

Based on the clear cheek pattern, I'm guessing hens.

 

[MamaBirds_Quail]

Based on the clear cheek pattern, I'm guessing hens.

Ooh goodnto know! So Pansy likenthe Pearl can be sexed by cheek/chin strap? So convenient! ALL of my Roo’s from the last group are EB so I’ve never gotten to see the fancy head cap show up!

 

[FloorCandy]

The light colored one with the orange chin is not expressing roux. A male can show roux, especially at a young age, if it only carries one copy of the gene, but it will usually be molted out. a female can not carry roux, she will either be roux or not, due to the sex linked gene. A roux bird will not have any black, so she is not roux. My guess is that she has 1 copy of fee, and those speckles are where browns and yellows would have been with no fee.