# Mystery Chicken! Help me identify?



## milkmaid

Both the hen and the rooster in the picture were hatched from eggs our hens laid. However, at the time the eggs were laid, there were several roosters running with the flock. I'm pretty sure the rooster is a RIR/WL cross. The hen, however, I haven't figured out yet.

Hen in foreground. Her eggs are medium-large and a very pale brown.

















Egg Comparison:
Silver Leghorn, Lakenvelder, RIR, Mystery Hen, White Leghorn









Father Possibilities:
Lakenvelder
Rhode Island Red
Barred Rock

Mother Possibilities:
White Leghorn
Silver Leghorn
Lakenvelder


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## milkmaid

I'm pretty sure she doesn't have Barred Rock in her, because her white feathers are pure white with no hint of barring.

Notice that her legs are blue - a characteristic of the Lakenvelder breed.


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## Mini Goat Lover

I agree with you about the rooster. I believe the hen is a Leghorn X Lakenvelder.


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## milkmaid

Thanks for your reply! But the hen lays eggs that are pale brown, and the leghorns and the Lakenvelders all lay pure white eggs. :scratch:


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## Mini Goat Lover

Hmmm, in that case I would say her sire is a Plymouth Rock because don't see any RIR in her....plus because of her beak color.


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## milkmaid

OK! So the barring doesn't necessarily show through?


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## Mini Goat Lover

Not necessarily, her color could be coming more from the Lakenvelder, therefore it would be solid instead of barred. She also does not look meaty enough to me to be part RIR. I believe Plymouth Rocks lay pale brown eggs as well


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## Stacykins

When you say that one of the leghorn hens is silver, do you mean blue or lavender? Silver laced? Trying to clarify so the actual genetics can be figured out.

If the barred rock mates with any of the females, then all cockerels and pullets would have the barred geno and phenotype, black unicolor barred. So that removes him from the equation.

If the RIR male and the lakenvelder mated, then the results would be black patterned red columbian and black patterned golden columbian. So it isn't those two. If the RIR and the white leghorn (white happens when two copies of a recessive gene are present, so it is easily dominated in crosses) were crossed, then the offspring would be black unicolor, male and females. If the RIR and the (blue?) leghorn are crossed, then the results would be 50% blue and 50% black offspring. If the leghorn is lavender, then the offpsring would be all black, again. So I don't think it is the RIR either.

So that leaves the lakenvelder as the best match for the father. The white leghorn is not the mother, though, since all offspring would again be black. If the mother is blue, then half would be blue and half would be black, and if she is lavender, all would be black. If she is silver laced, then all would show incomplete lacing. So maybe it is this silver hen, if you clarify what silver is, heh, because if it was the lakenvelder hen, then well, that girl would look like a lakenvelder too!

Of course, *I could be totally wrong on everything because I am assuming there aren't funny genetics at play*. I am looking at it as if a barred rock (E/E extended black) and a RIR (E^Wh/E^Wh) are completely pure with no genetic shenanigans at work! If they were an E/e or E^wh/e^b everything could be different, but the parents still look like a normal barred rock and RIR.


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## milkmaid

Wow, Stacykins! Thanks.
I'm not sure about the silver leghorn; she's just a "Silver Leghorn" from Murray McMurray Hatchery. I will try to post a pic of her.


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## milkmaid

I added another picture of her in the first post.

Here is the silver leghorn hen we have:


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## Stacykins

OH! She is a silver duckwing! That makes things much easier, haha.

I am almost certain of the pairing now. The father was the lakenvelder, and the mother was the silver duckwing leghorn. The result is an incomplete black patterned silver columbian. To give you an idea, the result is kinda like the Delaware breed, which is a complete black patterned silver columbian.


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## milkmaid

OK! But how do you explain her egg color and size then? :scratch: :shrug: Her comb, also, is bigger than that of either breed.

I'm sorry, I'm not being very helpful; but I just can't figure this one out! She seems to have characteristics of several breeds, and she can't possibly have more than 2 in her, because all we had at the time were purebreds.


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## Stacykins

I thought the breed description for a lakenvelder is that they can lay white or cream colored eggs? The male likely is the one that passed on the egg shell tinting, if that is the case. As for the comb, I don't think it is unusual at all for a leghorn type mix, if that is what she is. Leghorns tend to have large combs even for the hens, it looks like the picture of the silver duckwing has a pretty sizable comb!


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## milkmaid

:thumb: Thank you so much!


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