Thoughts on breeds?

[Numinous]

#1 reminds me of a Blue Sumatra (non on the list, could possibly have provided some genes in the "barnyard mix" category.)

#2 is definitely a mix of some sort. At a guess, probably includes some Easter Egger ancestors, but may or may not have the blue egg gene. You'll know egg color when she starts laying.

#3 I agree with the other posters who say that she looks like a Speckled Sussex, even though that is not in the list of breeds.

#4 and #5 are frizzled. That means at least one parent is frizzled. Considering what is on the list, either they came from Frizzled Easter Eggers, or else there are some frizzles in the "barnyard mix" too.

#6 and #7 are both black with white barring. #6 looks like a female and I think has a single comb. #7 looks like a male and does not have a single comb. I think he has a rose comb, but I'm not quite sure. There's a chance that it's some sort of mix including pea comb instead.

#6 has white feet, which means she cannot be a pure Barred Rock or Dominique. The comb is also wrong for Dominique. She could be a mix that includes one of those breeds, but there are quite a few other mixes that could also produce a pullet who looks like her. She must have gotten white barring from her father (because it cannot pass from mother to daughter), but that doesn't limit the choices very much. The father could be Barred Rock, Dominique, Delaware, Cream Legbar, or some kinds of barnyard mixes or Easter Eggers or Olive Eggers or males of some kinds of sexlink. At least one parent should have black, but if that's the father, the mother could be almost any color. If the father is not black (example: Delaware), then the mother needs to provide the black, but that could be any hen that is black, blue, or lavender.

#7 I can't see the foot color. Because of his comb, he cannot have two parents with single combs, but he could have one parent with a single comb. Possible parents are similar to the possibilities for #6, but because this is a cockerel, he could inherit barring from either his father or his mother.

This is a very helpful reply. I would love to get a handle on chicken genes and inheritance. Can you recommend any sites or books? Since I'm dealing with mixes, it's only going to get messier from here if I hatch any of my own chicks down the line and I would like to be able to make sense of things.

I can explain guinea pig color genetics without breaking a sweat, but I have no experience with birds or anything dealing with sex linked traits.

 

[Numinous]

This furthers my point that she’s a Jubilee Orpington rather than a Speckled Sussex. Although the final pattern is similar, Speckled Sussex chicks have a chipmunk pattern and Jubilee Orpingtons are blonde as chicks. In the US, these breeds have different genetics which is especially evident by the chick down. Most jubilees are wheaten-based and Speckled Sussex are wild-type based (in the US). I would bet money she’s a Jubilee Orpington

Awesome. Orpingtons were definitely on the list, just not the Jubilee. I agree with your previous guess that the seller might not have known what she had.

 

[NatJ]

This is a very helpful reply. I would love to get a handle on chicken genes and inheritance. Can you recommend any sites or books? Since I'm dealing with mixes, it's only going to get messier from here if I hatch any of my own chicks down the line and I would like to be able to make sense of things.

I can explain guinea pig color genetics without breaking a sweat, but I have no experience with birds or anything dealing with sex linked traits.

You might try this:
https://kippenjungle.nl/sellers/page0.html
That has links to several pages.
Page 1 is basic genetics (if you're good on guinea pig genetics, you can probably skip that one.)
Page 2 talks about chicken genetics, including discussions of specific genes and what they do.
Page 3 has a chart of genes, giving abbreviation and name and a little bit about each one.

You can also play with this:
https://kippenjungle.nl/chickencalculator.html
It is a chicken color calculator.
Change the genes in the dropdown box, and the little picture of the chicken will change accordingly.
It can calculate offspring colors after you put in both parents, but I find it more helpful just for modeling what a particular gene does.

Basic points about chicken genetics:
--males have chromosomes ZZ and females have ZW. This means the female determines the sex of the chick. It also means that if you are comfortable with sex-linked genes in mammals (example: human color blindness or hemophilia), then the chicken sex-linked ones will feel backwards.

--I found it helpful to mentally sort the genes into a few categories.
One category determines where black vs. gold appears on the chicken. The first 6 genes in the chicken calculator affect that, and they interact with each other in various ways. I think they are the most confusing ones.
One category of genes changes the effect of black or red. So Dominant White turns black into white, or Blue turns black into a shade of gray. Silver turns black into white, or Mahogany turns gold into a deeper red color. Lavender turns black into gray and also turns gold into cream.
On category of genes adds white to the chicken, no matter what else was going on with the color. Barring adds white lines across the chicken, and recessive white turns the whole chicken white.