Two Roos and Three Hens - Who Made What?

NorthernEggtropy

In the Brooder
Jun 29, 2024
5
20
31
Our Bluebell Egger went broody and we decided to give it a go. Sadly we didn't have any of her own eggs for her to hatch but we have three other hens and for a few days just put eggs under her when they were laid.
We had 7 eggs. Six hatched and one didn't make it.
Our hens are Barred Rock, Silver Laced Wyandotte, and Buff Orpington.
I *think* I know who mothered each chick but I've no idea who fathered them and I want to know!
We have two Roos - I think Bielefelder and Olive Egger (photos posted so correct me if I'm wrong, we got all the chicks last year from TSC and half the breeds were not what we asked for so hard to say for sure). The Bielefelder is top Roo and the Olive Egger is a dick and he won't be sticking around but he has had the opportunity to stick it to the hens so we just have no way of knowing.

Pictures:
The four grouped together were born two and two together, two days apart and then the grey chipmunk was born solo a few days later.
There are also some Polish chicks in the bunch whose eggs we bought. Fun group shot.
Close-ups are of the first two who hatched who are two weeks old today.

I will post more pictures as I get them.

I believe the black one has BR mom, the light one has BO mom, and the two brown and one grey chipmunks are all SLW mom. That's from my limited research and has nothing to do with the eggs from which they were hatched because I don't know whose eggs belong to which hen. They are all brown layers. Yes, they have differences but I haven't taken the time to figure that out yet and didn't pay attention to which ones they hatched from anyway.

Any opinions?
Also curious if my OE fathered any if they will give us coloured eggs!
And I'm of course anxious about genders but I don't think any are auto or sex linked (again correct me if I'm wrong, tried to research a bit but it's A LOT!) so will likely just have to wait and see.

Thanks in advance!
 

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I believe you have the mothers right. The larger chick in the last photo has a rose comb, so there is no doubt that its mother is the Wyandotte.

Impossible to say who the father of these chicks is, but later on it should be easier. If the chicks from the Orpington or Wyandotte hens have barring then the father has to be the Bielefelder. If any chicks from the same hens lack barring, then the olive egger has to be the father.

That won't work with the chick from the barred rock, since she is barred herself. If the olive egger is the father of her chick, then it has to be male, since a non-barred male over a barred female will always produce sex linked chicks, and the males will have the head spot and barring and females won't

However, if the barred rock mother's chick has the Bielefelder as its father, then it will be barred regardless of gender. But a male chick of this cross will be paler over all because it will be double barred, whereas a female will be barred but darker over all because she will be single barred.
 
I believe you have the mothers right. The larger chick in the last photo has a rose comb, so there is no doubt that its mother is the Wyandotte.

Impossible to say who the father of these chicks is, but later on it should be easier. If the chicks from the Orpington or Wyandotte hens have barring then the father has to be the Bielefelder. If any chicks from the same hens lack barring, then the olive egger has to be the father.

That won't work with the chick from the barred rock, since she is barred herself. If the olive egger is the father of her chick, then it has to be male, since a non-barred male over a barred female will always produce sex linked chicks, and the males will have the head spot and barring and females won't

However, if the barred rock mother's chick has the Bielefelder as its father, then it will be barred regardless of gender. But a male chick of this cross will be paler over all because it will be double barred, whereas a female will be barred but darker over all because she will be single barred.
Thank you!
Yes, the combs are why I think three belong to the Wyandotte.
At what point can I tell whether there is barring on the feathers because at this point they all look like that but then looking at pictures of our six from last year they all looked similar at this young age but the feathers obviously changed at some point.
 
Here are two more that are two weeks today.
What you can't see from these pictures is the two brown ones have green legs!
Do we think that means the Olive Egger has to be the father?
 

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This is the last of our five at two weeks. I am noticing a more bumpy comb than the two brown ones and wondering if that means the fathers are different or maybe the genders...?
Anyway this one is my favourite so hoping for female! 💕
 

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The combs can help sort the chicks. (May have to let them grow more first). The OE roo has a pea comb. If he has 2 copies of the gene then ALL his babies will have P genes. Wyandottes have rose (R) combs. They may be partial pure. If you have any WALNUT comb babies. They are a 100% guarantee cross between rose and pea comb. Any straight comb is recessive to rose and pea. This does NOT mean that all straight combs are NOT his. If he's Pp (one dominate, 1 recessive), he's going to show a pea comb, but throw some straight comb babies. (Same for the Rose comb ladies)
 

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