Help! Trying to identify breeds from an assortment.

Pghelp

Songster
5 Years
Jul 4, 2018
333
558
246
Greater Bay Area, Vallejo, California
I ordered the Rare/Standard assortment from Tractor Supply/Hoover's Hatchery. We lost 2 and half the shipment were Leghorns. I need help identifying the "Rare" ones. On the website it lists about 50 breeds as possibilities (https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...tandard-package-chickens-10-count-baby-chicks) and they do not identify what they send you. I have some ideas but I'm just not familiar enough with the breeds to be certain. Below are descriptions and photos. Any confirmation or ideas appreciated. All are of the pullets at 12 weeks old.

#1 Spreckles – Black head, tail, and markings on wings with mostly white body. The only chick who trills and whistles. Dark grey legs. Bright blue “ear” and golden to greenish eyes. Could she be a Columbia Wyandotte? She's quite petite compared to the others.

#2 Grey -- Black legs, black head and neck shading into grey on graceful elongated body. Yellow skin on bottoms of feet and face. Seems to be maturing faster than the others. Rather hawk-like face and beak.

#3 Emu – Black legs, beak, and solid black feathers which are incredibly long and fluffy. Dark eyes. Can fly but doesn’t usually. There is a small tail that can be felt but no tail feathers. She was the runt but twice the size of the rest. Kind of waddles instead of strutting or walking like the others. Just recently the black feathers are now showing an irridescent green and she has distinctive tufts on her cheeks. Araucana or perhaps Asian Black?

#4 Coo Coo – Creamy colored feathers with irregular spotted markings, Black spots on beak. Head is now shading into a greyish almost lavender color. Grey legs. Maybe a Blue Splash Marans?

#5 Olive – So called because she had a fawn/olive colored head when younger that has almost faded away. Still of trace of eyeliner. Creamy colored feathers. Perhaps an Easter Egger or Americauna since she has green legs?
 

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Thank you so much for the quick response! Looks like I'll need to head back online and look for some more pictures to compare. So many of the websites post pix of gorgeous roosters which doesn't help much for identifying pullets, so this really helps! On Grey, I've wondered about either Australorp or maybe even a Marans. Coo Coo I'm pretty sure is a Blue Splash something -- I'll look at the Andalusian. Blue Andalusian is one of the possible breeds on their list. Plymouth Rock isn't on their list so I'm still thinking Olive is some kind of Easter Egger mutt with those green legs. The Lakenvelder looks a lot like Speckles and there is a Silver Lakenvelder on the list. She's tiny, independent and loves to perch up high. I think that's a winner for sure! I don't know much about the Sapphire Gems and haven't found very good pix online. Are they tailless? She is almost round with all those feathers! I was almost convinced she was a Black Araucana especially with the new tufty whiskers that appeared a couple of days ago. Thank you again so much! One thing is for sure, I'll know more when I see their combs develop more and see the color of their eggs!
 
White Plymouth Rock is on their list :) It's at the bottom, I don't know much about Sapphire Gems either, but its another generally blue-blueish bird so I thought I shouldn't not include it :D They seem a little big/round for an Araucana, I personally would have guessed cochin if they had feathered legs or wyandotte if they had pea combs! but they dont so I'm kinda at a loss, super cute round babies though! For Grey I'm not sure if hatchery quality comes into play but I'm pretty sure Marans are supposed to have lightly feathered legs (like a langshan, not like a cochin) but I'm not sure if ALL Marans are required to have feathered legs to be a true/pure Maran :D
 
Only things I will add is that I believe the blue birds are Saphire Gems.

The last one is not a White Rock. I'm guessing Prarie Blubell Egger with those green legs/feet.
 
What are the bottom of foot colors for all blue/splash birds? If they're yellow-some designer mix. Sapphire Gem/Sapphire Splash etc. If white, there's more options. Last is another designer mix, probably Egger of some sort. 1st is a Silver Lakenvelder
No white bottoms of feet. I looked for that. Grey has distinctly black legs but yellow on the bottom of the feet. Coo Coo has kind of creamy colored skin, not a true white. Emu's feet are black. I find I don't trust the quality of what we get from the big commercial hatcheries so they may not be pure no matter what they claim. Never again for me. I'll get future birds where I can choose the breeds. I love these girls but I had no idea it would be such a puzzle to guess what they were. Combs and egg color will help but we're still not there yet!
 
It's good to have a firm agreement on Spreckles as Silver Lakenvelder. I wondered if maybe a Colombian Wyandotte but that didn't seem quite right. The description on the Lakenvelders absolutely suits her perfectly! She's quite independent, only hangs out with Emu who is also a loner. She's unbelievably curious about everything and she always wants to perch up high and watch the show. Her favorite thing is to fly to the top of the coop door with enough force that it will swing, then she folds her feet like a little old lady and rests there swinging! I'm going to cruise the internet to look harder for more info on the Sapphires and Andalusians and I hadn't even looked at the Prairie Bluebell Egger. Thank you all for helping!
 
No white bottoms of feet. I looked for that. Grey has distinctly black legs but yellow on the bottom of the feet. Coo Coo has kind of creamy colored skin, not a true white. Emu's feet are black. I find I don't trust the quality of what we get from the big commercial hatcheries so they may not be pure no matter what they claim. Never again for me. I'll get future birds where I can choose the breeds. I love these girls but I had no idea it would be such a puzzle to guess what they were. Combs and egg color will help but we're still not there yet!
Probably Sapphire Splash and Sapphire Gems. Andalusians have white/pink skin. Last one likely an Egger still. I'm not a fan of large hatcheries at all. I would much rather support preserving the heritage breeds rather than their production counterparts that make hatcheries more money. I recently ordered an assortment from a breeder and all the chicks I ordered were banded with different colors to show the breed, along with a list of what was sent. The extras weren't banded, but it was super easy to determine due to limited breeds
 
Probably Sapphire Splash and Sapphire Gems. Andalusians have white/pink skin. Last one likely an Egger still. I'm not a fan of large hatcheries at all. I would much rather support preserving the heritage breeds rather than their production counterparts that make hatcheries more money. I recently ordered an assortment from a breeder and all the chicks I ordered were banded with different colors to show the breed, along with a list of what was sent. The extras weren't banded, but it was super easy to determine due to limited breeds
That's so much better! It seems such a simple thing to put a band on for ID. Frankly I didn't expect to become a "chicken lady" and I'm still learning. I decided to take the step of ordering hatchlings since I'm down to 2 hens and they're getting older. I'm in multiple at risk groups so during pandemic ordering one group seemed a better choice than going in person to breeders. I was going to purchase Marans locally but the breeder doesn't reserve and she sold them all in one morning. I'm learning and to be honest being forced to research multiple breeds has taught me so much. I figure in a few years I'll be getting littles again so these girls are teaching me about building my dream flock! Thanks again for your help!
 

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