Splash chick down color

[Bear River Farm]

We have made a rookie mistake...  We had 3 eggs hatch today and I was not home when they hatched.  They were under a broody hen and the eggs were marked but I do not know which chick came from which egg.  I do know I had 2 BBS eggs and 1 white egg, both bantam.  I have 3 chicks all with yellowish down.  Can I tell a splash chick from a white chick?  When do splash chicks get their spots?  Please help...

[DeWayne Edgin]

If you had black and blues together, you should not get splash. Blue to Blue will give you a few splash. I would guess 4 to 6 weeks you should see spots. Mine showed darker colors mixed on them when they hatched. If you breed black to black, you should not get any yellow chicks at all.

[Bear River Farm]

Thank you DeWayne.  We had a blue male over blue, black and splash hens.  I will have to wait and see what I get and when.

[Sharon Yorks]

I would guess that the white chick should start taking on a look that is different from the two splash, but I can sometimes start to see my splash chicks showing a few spots as early as a few weeks. I'm looking at one right now that was hatched on April 8th and I can see distinctive spots.

[Carrie Gildersleeve]

I had a chick with what I was told was the splash down -like a blue but with the clown spotting on the head. Now she is feathered out like a blue hen, except she has one white primary feather on each side. Does anybody know if she is actually a splash? I.e has the two blue genes?

[Carrie Gildersleeve]

I saw in another post that the clown head may be indicative of the Pg gene, and I have decided that if she looks like a blue, then she is a blue ...I'm learning...LOL

[DeWayne Edgin]

Can you post a picture of the blue hen? If she has a white feather on her wing and on each wing, you may not want to use her for breeding. Some people will just pull the white feathers out and show the bird. If you breed her though she will throw these feathers with her chicks. I sold all of my blacks and blues because of this and i got new ones that do not have these white feathers on their wings. If she is a splash it may not matter. I am not sure about splash. A picture will help us guess if she is a blue or a splash.

[Carrie Gildersleeve]

She is the one, in front, the one behind is my other blue hen. The white feathers fell out on their own a week or so ago and she is only 15 weeks now. From what I have read growth feathers don't really count, you have to look at what the adult bird is, and she is getting mighty pretty

[Mike Gilbert]

Well, she is definitely not splash.   Goes to show you can't go too much by chick down color.

[DeWayne Edgin]

She is a dark blue pullet. Some blues look gray as chicks and some even look like a black. You can`t tell sometimes. If you want to see a splash, i can get a picture today and put it on here. Im not sure but you may even be able to search the site for some.

[Carrie Gildersleeve]

That would be great, it would be nice to get more pictures on here 

[DeWayne Edgin]

Here are three different splash pullets.

[Lee G]

Here are a couple more splash hens...there is a lot of variation in the colour.  I prefer the look of a heavily splashed bird. 

[Carrie Gildersleeve]

Love the pictures! I hope to hatch out some of these beauties next spring