Chicken breeding behavior

[redinator]

So this may seem like dumb question, but bare with me here. Can a single hen lay eggs in the same clutch that are sired by a different rooster? I ask because I have two chicks that looked almost identical at hatch, but now they're developing different characteristics that makes me wonder if they had different sires.

I'm working on sorting out their pictures now. The only way I could (usually) tell them apart at hatch was the different markings on their beaks, but most of the pictures I have don't show the beak. Now even their beaks coloring and pattern have changed.

 

[sourland]

Yes, hens can lay eggs fertilized by many roosters resulting in chicks that are half brothers and/or sisters.

 

[redinator]

Yes, hens can lay eggs fertilized by many roosters resulting in chicks that are half brothers and/or sisters.

 

[redinator]

Yes, hens can lay eggs fertilized by many roosters resulting in chicks that are half brothers and/or sisters.

So is it also possible for them to look nearly identical at hatch, but start showing more of the sires characteristics as they age?

 

[sourland]

Yes. Actually hens can store sperm and have chicks sired by a rooster for as much as four weeks after mating.

 

[redinator]

Yes. Actually hens can store sperm and have chicks sired by a rooster for as much as four weeks after mating.

Gees, just when I think I know everything . . . . lol

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sourland is 100% correct. Different fathers is one possibility.

There is another possibility. How genetically pure is the mother? How genetically pure is the father? It is not that unusual for even purebred chickens to have some diversity in their genetic background.
It's the same concept as why two children from the same parents can look quite a bit different.