Mystery gray and yellow chick - Help ID?

[ScalesandTailsRanch]

Hello! We just picked up these little ones last week, so they hatched about 4 or 5 days ago. The two with the chipmunk stripes should be easter egger, but we're not sure about the gray. The primary feathers came in white, but the new ones are light gray.
The breeds on offer at the time were supposedly easter egger, production red, golden comet, and Russian orloff. She doesn't look like any of them! Any ideas?

 

[Yardmom]

EE don't have a standard, so an EE can be any color.

 

[ScalesandTailsRanch]

EE don't have a standard, so an EE can be any color.

You think the gray is also? The head is a very different shape. Narrower and without the cheek fluff of the other two.

 

[NatJ]

You think the gray is also? The head is a very different shape. Narrower and without the cheek fluff of the other two.

Still probably an Easter Egger.

The breeds on offer at the time were supposedly easter egger, production red, golden comet, and Russian orloff. She doesn't look like any of them! Any ideas?

Three of those kinds have specific colors, and you are correct that your chick does not match any of them.

Easter Eggers can come in any color, including the gray color that your chick is. Easter Eggers can have the cheek fluff or normal cheeks. They can have pretty much any trait that is possible in any chicken.

So either your gray chick is an Easter Egger, or your gray chick is some kind that was not on the list. I think Easter Egger is most likely correct.

 

[fuzzymonkeez101]

Still probably an Easter Egger.


Three of those kinds have specific colors, and you are correct that your chick does not match any of them.

Easter Eggers can come in any color, including the gray color that your chick is. Easter Eggers can have the cheek fluff or normal cheeks. They can have pretty much any trait that is possible in any chicken.

So either your gray chick is an Easter Egger, or your gray chick is some kind that was not on the list. I think Easter Egger is most likely correct.

Slightly incorrect, an easter egger is any mixed chicken that specifically carries the blue egging gene. I don't know any blue eggers that look like that chick so it's more likely a BYM. That ends up happening when you breed 2 easter eggers back together because the main traits of the breeds they were mixed with ended up being inherited, not the blue egging genetics.

 

[fuzzymonkeez101]

When trying to tell if your bird carries the blue egging gene, you should look for either:
Puffy cheaks
Beards
Pea combs
Tufted heads
Rumpless (no tail)
or Slate feet
They can be any feather color/pattern but if they don't carry any of those traits they probably are not a true easter egger, just a BYM.

 

[NatJ]

When trying to tell if your bird carries the blue egging gene, you should look for either:
Puffy cheaks
Beards
Pea combs
Tufted heads
Rumpless (no tail)
or Slate feet
They can be any feather color/pattern but if they don't carry any of those traits they probably are not a true easter egger, just a BYM.

Those traits are relatively common in Easter Eggers, but there are some Easter Eggers that lay blue or green eggs and do not have any of those traits.
Examples of Easter Eggers that do not have any trait on your list:
https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/shop/product/easter-egger/
https://www.hoovershatchery.com/starlight-green-egger
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/whiting_true_green.html

As more hatcheries are producing more kinds of Easter Eggers, it is getting more and more common to find ones that do not show any distinctive visual trait.

Based on the list of breeds in the original post, I assumed the chick was produced by a hatchery. Hatcheries do not produce random mixes. They only sell mixes with a particular purpose (meat birds, hybrid layers of brown eggs or white eggs, chickens that lay colored eggs, and so forth.) I think it very possible that OP's chick is an Easter Egger from a hatchery.

Slightly incorrect, an easter egger is any mixed chicken that specifically carries the blue egging gene. I don't know any blue eggers that look like that chick so it's more likely a BYM. That ends up happening when you breed 2 easter eggers back together because the main traits of the breeds they were mixed with ended up being inherited, not the blue egging genetics.

Yes, Easter Eggers are supposed to have the blue egg gene.

That does not conflict with my statement that "Easter Eggers can come in any color, including the gray color that your chick is. Easter Eggers can have the cheek fluff or normal cheeks. They can have pretty much any trait that is possible in any chicken."

I strongly suspect the chick has either the lavender gene or the blue gene (feather color). Easter Eggers with either of those color genes definitely exist. Examples:
https://www.mypetchicken.com/products/baby-chicks-lavender-dream-easter-egger
https://www.mypetchicken.com/products/baby-chicks-blue-easter-egger

So again, I see no reason to doubt that this chick is an Easter Egger, at least until it grows up and lays eggs.

 

[fuzzymonkeez101]

Those traits are relatively common in Easter Eggers, but there are some Easter Eggers that lay blue or green eggs and do not have any of those traits.
Examples of Easter Eggers that do not have any trait on your list:
https://www.freedomrangerhatchery.com/shop/product/easter-egger/
https://www.hoovershatchery.com/starlight-green-egger
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/whiting_true_green.html

As more hatcheries are producing more kinds of Easter Eggers, it is getting more and more common to find ones that do not show any distinctive visual trait.

Based on the list of breeds in the original post, I assumed the chick was produced by a hatchery. Hatcheries do not produce random mixes. They only sell mixes with a particular purpose (meat birds, hybrid layers of brown eggs or white eggs, chickens that lay colored eggs, and so forth.) I think it very possible that OP's chick is an Easter Egger from a hatchery.


Yes, Easter Eggers are supposed to have the blue egg gene.

That does not conflict with my statement that "Easter Eggers can come in any color, including the gray color that your chick is. Easter Eggers can have the cheek fluff or normal cheeks. They can have pretty much any trait that is possible in any chicken."

I strongly suspect the chick has either the lavender gene or the blue gene (feather color). Easter Eggers with either of those color genes definitely exist. Examples:
https://www.mypetchicken.com/products/baby-chicks-lavender-dream-easter-egger
https://www.mypetchicken.com/products/baby-chicks-blue-easter-egger

So again, I see no reason to doubt that this chick is an Easter Egger, at least until it grows up and lays eggs.

Your reasoning is exactly why people get scammed trying to buy rainbow egg layers.

Hoover's even labels their easter eggers as "Americanas" trying to trick people in to believing they are true Ameraucanas. Same with tractor supply.

To claim so avidly that it is really an Easter Egger based on no evidence is erroneous. Not to mention it is not uncommon to get the wrong chick mixed in an order.

You are only correct in saying there is no true standard yet, but that does not mean any mixed chicken counts.

There are only a handful of breeds that lay true blue eggs and all of them have defining features. Anything else is mixed with a white layer and therefore crossbreeding to make easter eggers will not guarantee the offspring will cary the blue egging gene as is the only real requirement to be an Easter Egger.

 

[NatJ]

To claim so avidly that it is really an Easter Egger based on no evidence is erroneous. Not to mention it is not uncommon to get the wrong chick mixed in an order.

I am not 100% certain this chick is an Easter Egger.
But I am sure that Easter Egger is the most likely answer.
If it's a wrong chick in the order, do you have any other suggestion for what it may be? Any kind of chick sold by a major hatchery that DOES look like that?

I am basing "Easter Egger" mostly on two pieces of evidence.
One is this:

The breeds on offer at the time were supposedly easter egger, production red, golden comet, and Russian orloff.

The chick cannot possibly be Production Red, or Golden Comet, or Russian Orloff.
So if the list is correct, the chick must be an Easter Egger.

My second piece of evidence: I do not know of any other kind of chicken that is likely. I have not seen any pure breed of chicken that looks like that chick. Nor is that a common appearance for any of the other mixed types that are commonly available from hatcheries. And no-one else has suggested any other breed or type of chick that is commonly available from hatcheries either.

Therefore I think the chick is MOST LIKELY an Easter Egger. I am not 100% certain. But I think all other possibilities are less likely.

If the chick grows up to lay blue or green eggs, we will have the answer.
If the chick grows up to be a male, or to be a female that lays other colors of eggs, by then it will have an adult appearance to help us make better guesses.

You are only correct in saying there is no true standard yet, but that does not mean any mixed chicken counts.

But it does mean, when a chick is sold as an Easter Egger, you cannot say "I know from the appearance that chick is no Easter Egger." As long as Easter Egger means any chicken that has the blue egg gene, there will never be a standard appearance.

Unless a chicken belongs to a recognizable breed, you cannot tell by looking at the chicken what color eggs it will lay (blue, green, white, brown). That also means you cannot tell what color eggs it won't lay.

 

[fuzzymonkeez101]

"I know from the appearance that chick is no Easter Egger."

That is not what I said. You are being extremely argumentative when I was just trying to help the person who posted.