What to expect with back yard mixes?

[PhantomSlayer]

Decided to attempt a dry hatch for future goose incubation. I don't know anything about chicken genetics and how the mix of breeds goes. The first chick has hatched today on day 19 and its got me wondering what to expect from some of our girls.

I woke up this morning looked over at the incubator which is also toward the direction of my door saw a yellow object pop up into view. Had to do a double take thought I was dreaming lol. The day before I had a dream that only 3 eggs out of 12 hatched. What a cute thing to wake up to.

Our roo (In pic) is said to be a Americana mix but I've been calling him an EE cause it's safer than calling him an Americana mix. I don't want to be yelled at by people because of the misleading of americana/EE etc stuff. He's a handsome boy so thats all that matters to me lol.

As for our breeds. One girl is a EE I know what her eggs look like so I know to expect a different coloration from those. But the rest of our girls lay brown shades.

2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Gold Laced Wyandotte and 4 Black Australorps. Two of our Black australorps were broody before this so I know it cuts that down to two of them.

Considering the color of this chick I want to assume its a buff orpington mix but since the fathers breed is a mix is it possible the egg was one of the other breeds or do I continue to assume based on color that its a buff orpington mix?

I know the wyandotte chicks are brown and black and the australorps are black and yellow/white. But is it possible for the chick to look soo different from the mothers breed because of the breed their father is or would there be some similar colorations to the mother breeds? I'm just confusing myself at this point on what to expect will come from these eggs lol.

Or is it a "You won't know till their grown up" thing.

 

[JedJackson]

Since the father is mixed in color, you can get a spectrum of different patterns in the chicks. But I think most will be predominantly black or blue with gold or silver leakage.

That particular chick looks to be from an Orpington. I am not sure why it is so pale, but color genetics are complicated. There can be hidden genes that show in the offspring.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

Since the father is mixed in color, you can get a spectrum of different patterns in the chicks. But I think most will be predominantly black or blue with gold or silver leakage.

That particular chick looks to be from an Orpington. I am not sure why it is so pale, but color genetics are complicated. There can be hidden genes that show in the offspring.

Okay thank you. Its the con to having 7 out of 8 brown laying hens lol not knowing which hen laid which. I still haven't figured it out after almost 3 years of having them. It just looks so much like a buff orpington chick.

I was told EE's are basically mutts of the chicken breeds so theres alot of unknown when it comes to hatching them but I wasn't sure since the majority of our females are more solid breeds.

Personality wise I shouldn't be hatching her eggs as she is our nightmare child and I want to go for a friendly flock but she is sooo pretty and I just cannot resist wanting to see what comes out the pairing. Maybe I can somehow make some of her offspring friendly lol. Shes a drama queen. She acts like I will murder her if I'm within 5 ft of her.

Fun fact: Her name is Goldy. His name is Casanova.