[cammi]

We were sold Pearl as a Light Sussex x RIR, but after reading that most people do it the other way round for autosexing, what do you think??  Doesnt really matter what she is I'm just curious....................


Oh and any idea how old she might be...........

[joyfull]

you can just see the RIR coming out on her neck I think but whatever she is she is very pretty 

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

She is pretty and quite unusual looking too.   

[hillfooter]

Difficult as the photo doesn't show body shape or feathering well.  The legs are blue which isn't a characteristic of either (LS are pink & RIR yellow) so I'm not convinced that this is a first cross if it does have LS & RIR in it.  Virtually all hybrids have RIR & LS in them somewhere so I wouldn't be too convinced that your breeder is claiming them to be first crosses.

It's very difficult to age a hen.  It certainly doesn't look old the legs look tightly scaled and it looks slim so it doesn't look inconsistent with it being a youngish pullet

HF

[chickchook]

i agree the blue legs would make it neather of them breeds.. some silkys have blue legs  and  so do jungle fowl  apart form that i cant think . all tho i have had a long day lol. 

[hillfooter]

Arucanas, Black Australorps and Vorwerks have blue/ slate grey legs.  I I suspect many others too I'm not familiar with.  The only one which it might slightly resemble is a VW but they are rare and not used in hybrids to my knowledge.

VW hen


HF

[cammi]

I will try to get some better photos tomorrow, my camera went flat today 

It's all very interesting

[jinty1911]

My Silkie/Sussex have grey/blue legs.

[chickchook]

vw - light sussex lol .. looks a good bet

[hillfooter]

vw - light sussex lol .. looks a good bet

I've crossed a VW with a Speckled Sussex by mistake (collected and incubated the wrong eggs!).  The result was a Sussex body shaped bird with VW type feathering black hackles with a dark brown body, can't recall the leg colour I'll check tomorrow.  A very attractive looking bird though.

HF

[Casey76]

Her colouring is almost blue spash (with autosomal red leakage in the gold-y hackles).  A blue hen would also help to account for the blue legs as well.

As to her age... dunno!  But I would hazard a few weeks (at least) from laying just yet!

[cammi]

More photos i hope, if ive done it right.

Where i got her from also had, Blue bells, Orpingtons and Welsummers

[Casey76]

Oooh she is so pretty!

I would definitely say she is "splash" (double dose of blue genes)  But I don't have a clue about her breed - sorry!

[Beano]

She's very pretty with lovely strong looking legs.

[hillfooter]

Given that the breeder had Bluebelles I suspect this is an attempt to produce a Bluebelle which didn't work.  True Bluebelles are only the progeny from the breeder who registered them initially and knows the genetic make up and keeps breeder stock.  Obviously any hybrid can be copied if the genetic make up is known and I suspect this hen was the result of a failed attempt.  The legs were OK though

HF