What type of OEGB is this? And this is a cockerel? Correct?

[bharris0426]

I am stumped. I have raised chickens for several years now. I started with some pretty "basic" breeds and in the last year I have added a nice mixture to my mixed flock. I am no pro when it comes to OEGB breeds. I am learning. I have had a OEGB hen for a year now, that I adore! I wanted her to have some friends so I purchased some smaller chickens. I bought another OEGB in August thinking that I absolutely bought another hen. It had the long mascara and the coloring was very similar to Pidgey's. In the last couple of months when "Autumn" molted that coloring changed completely! Black spots started showing up all over the chest and back. Then green, orange, and red spots. There is a bit of a comb and wattles showing. The colors are brighter and the hackle feathers are pointed. Tail feathers longer. This bird has been way more anxious acting than my sweet girl. I am 98% sure it's a boy. I'm calling him Icaris now. Lol. But what has me stumped is i really thought the comb would be bigger by now and the Saddle feathers would be more prominent. He is 5/6 months old? I could tell my Silkies were cockerels and this one has me questioning myself. Oh and what type of OEGB? Dutch? Or BB red? Whatcha think? Ignore my messy gym/basement. We are making some changes and have stuff everywhere. Lol. These are from a few weeks back. Ill take some new ones tomorrow. Thanks guys!!

 

[JedJackson]

It's a black breasted red old English game bantam, but definitely an unusual case. At what age would you estimate the black spots started coming in? At what age did the shiny red, pointed feathers on the shoulders and back start to come in? Both are male traits for this color variety.

Normally, a cockerel of this color variety would have these traits early on. The breast would feather in black or quickly change to black, and the male pointy red feathers would start coming in by 8 weeks or so.

Difficult to say what is going on. It could be a cockerel with a hormone problem that caused delayed development of male sex characteristics. But if that is the case, why is the comb still so small and pale? And where are the wattles?

It might also be somewhere in between a male and female on the spectrum of gender. It's rare, but it happens more frequently in birds.

I guess time will tell, but it's definitely an interesting case. I suspect it won't lay eggs. Whether it will ever be a fertile male is another story, and there's really no way to tell at this point.

I'm interested in what others have to say about this.

 

[BDutch]

Yes. Sometimes strange things happen with X and Z genes . Chickens don’t always turn out 100% female or 100% male. I remember reading another thread here on BYC of someone who even had a chicken with a left-right divided body. With photos to prove it.
Strange things can happen passing through genetics.

 

[Mahonri]

Please continue to post pics. I thought I could spot a cockeral by that age, but not this one

 

[MysteryChicken]

I am stumped. I have raised chickens for several years now. I started with some pretty "basic" breeds and in the last year I have added a nice mixture to my mixed flock. I am no pro when it comes to OEGB breeds. I am learning. I have had a OEGB hen for a year now, that I adore! I wanted her to have some friends so I purchased some smaller chickens. I bought another OEGB in August thinking that I absolutely bought another hen. It had the long mascara and the coloring was very similar to Pidgey's. In the last couple of months when "Autumn" molted that coloring changed completely! Black spots started showing up all over the chest and back. Then green, orange, and red spots. There is a bit of a comb and wattles showing. The colors are brighter and the hackle feathers are pointed. Tail feathers longer. This bird has been way more anxious acting than my sweet girl. I am 98% sure it's a boy. I'm calling him Icaris now. Lol. But what has me stumped is i really thought the comb would be bigger by now and the Saddle feathers would be more prominent. He is 5/6 months old? I could tell my Silkies were cockerels and this one has me questioning myself. Oh and what type of OEGB? Dutch? Or BB red? Whatcha think? Ignore my messy gym/basement. We are making some changes and have stuff everywhere. Lol. These are from a few weeks back. Ill take some new ones tomorrow. Thanks guys!!

It's a cockerel.
It's feathering out like my Red JungleFowl did. Male Red JungleFowl start out with female ground color, but then start getting their black breasts alittle later.

So, either this OEGB kept that trait, or it's been crossed with JungleFowl.

 

[MysteryChicken]

 

[MysteryChicken]

Couple other options is this bird of yours is a very late developing cockerel(had to find age, didn't see it at the beginning).

Or it's a pullet with a hormone problem.