well whatever it is (BB red) we don't have any.
Try to guess what breed the parents to these were......
I want to know the answer... but the guessing has been an education so I want it to continue. Great thread!
How about it Smedgekles: Columbian?
no Columbian.
Are you ready to see the pictures and know the answer?
Wait...we need to consider the colours already proposed and come up with a final barrage of answers. We can't have come so far, only to give up now....
The grandfather is Australorp and therefore black, the mother is buff (which is a real genetic can of worms). The grandmother is a Cochin Bantam who is not blue, splash,white, black breasted red, barred, or silver laced.
We know that Smedgekles has a birchen Cochin. Dominant white could eliminate the black markings and produce mostly white chicks, but where would it come from - buried under the buff? Recessive white could be involved but we'd need it on both sides - again if these whites were in the buffs, wouldn't they appear from time too time?
Whatever...I'll guess Birchen.
I think the Australorps may sometimes carry a hidden white or silver gene....or there is an easy mutation that can express it. The Buff is problematic.
Birchen sounds good to me.
Okay you finally got it. The father is an Australorp/Birchen mix that came from an Australorp hen and a very..... big hen chasing Birchen Cochin roo. The roo wasn't big, he just set his sights high and nabbed himself an Australorp hen.
This is the picture of the "family" of Buff hens and the mix roo. As you can see his colorations take after the Birchen father, but his size is definitely Australorp.
Here is another of just him.
yeah you all finally got it!!!
Dance, dance, dance! High five! We got it!
Yeah, porkpal!....I never thought of Birchen.
It is amazing how big the bantam Cochin/Australorp cross is. He is stunning! And no leg feathering!
What a handsome fellow! Even though I guessed it I still don't understand where all the colors came from/went to.
Thanks Smedgkles, that was fun!
You are very welcome. It was fun reading all the guesses too.
What amazes me is the difference in all the babies. The 3 above, then there is the one that is Buff colored and black (and there were two like that) and there are two that look like Buffs totally and all came from the same set of parents. And there is the one that is white with the black on the tail that we are pretty sure the egg came from the pen that these parents are in. Ya never know what you get when you have a mixed up roo.
VERY true!