Buff Orpington Purebred Chicks?

I received some buff orpington eggs and they are now starting to hatch? The three that have hatched have a black or dark spot on their heads, are purebred buff orpington chicks suppose to have this spot on their head? First time hatching purebred buff orpingtons and each picture I have seen does not show this.
Thanks,
Holly

I only know them to be pure yellow but I'm no expert. Here is a clip on some: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I can speak to this. I have had a few in each of my many hatches of the buff orpingtons that have a darkish mark on their head. Just happens.Don't know why, but that disappears and they end up being all blonde. I don't know how common it is, but I am not embarassed to say that I have that in my flock too. I would not worry one bit about it. it disappears. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

If you look very closely at this picture, there are two chicks here that you will see the dark mark on the heads. It is not that noticeable because the picture is not that good. If I knew how to draw a circle around the picture I would circle them, but I don't. The two chicks that have the mark that are visible is the one in the centre and the one to the left closer to the wall. look closely, three are dark marks on the head. I would not consider them black, but certainly a shade of brown. I don't think you need to worry and need to worry less about the breed not being a pure buff orpington. I see this in all my hatches. Only one or two in each hatch, and actually, not always every hatch, but often enough. Look closely....and don't worry. the one in the centre with the really big head, smiling, looking to the right is the chick.

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Yes those spots will appear in the chicks in some strains, and even in some other breeds like Buff Chanteclers. I'm always glad to see the dark spots on my orpingtons as those chicks usually end up having the most beautiful buff color.
I have heard those spots are an indication of 'self buff' but I don't know about that. I just know those dark marks will be gone with the adult plumage.

Interesting about self buff KathyS. In my Buff Sussex, the dark spot on the head usually meant pullet.

Now I'm trying to remember where I may have heard that, about the dark spots being related to self buff. I'm wondering if it might have been a post last year by Higgins Rat Ranch?
Higgins, if you are on here does this sound familiar?

Thank you all, tomorrow I hope to take them out of the incubator at which time I will post pictures. Right now I have three more pipped and 4 not. Maybe overnight I will get lucky and the rest will pip and hatch. Today is day 21.

Well, thanks to bcboy, I refreshed my memory on how to use paint, thank you, just had forgotten, it had been so long since I used it.Got a question for you, gonna put it in your other post though.

Look at the picture (it is of buff orpingtons and buckeyes, the buckeye has the dark stripe down the back). I have circled the dark marks on the head, so much more visible, hope this helps. Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

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I knew I had seen a discussion previously about those dark spots on buff chick down. It was on here, along with Cynthia's cute chick pictures.
Foal 0069 how did the rest of your hatch turn out?

Hi KathyS,
My hatch ended up with 15 of the 17 egss hatching over three days. They are all doing well and I am hoping to get some good pictures today. I ended up with 8 buff orpingtons and 7 Rhode Island Reds. All things considered I am happy with the hatch result as my neighbour's eggs (same time in incubator with my original 3 dozen) hatched all 9 eggs within 8 hours. I had over half that checked out not fertile.

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this one is a little wet

And here they are!!!

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Looking forward to seeing how they turn out.

Oh, oh, oh, so darn cute. Don't worry about the dark down on the head, it will be gone in no time at all. Have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

I can't wait for our first hatch! Oh so much to learn!

Any update on how they have feathered out?

I still absolutely think there is nothing wrong with the dark marks on the head, I still get them.  I am horrible at genetics stuff, but buff is a dilution of black, if I am not mistaken.  I am sure that Tara may chime in her and smack my hand or give me a hand shake.  And somewhere along my travels in studying about the buff colour, I was reading a breeding was saying that some peppering in the tails of females is good.  Wonder if the chicks with black on the heads are females that end up with some peppering in the tail.  I don't know.  I should do a study, but am too lazy at this point in time.  I think that about 10% of my chicks get the darkness on the head, like little spots, lines, hard to describe....I should get more pictures for proof of the pudding.  Have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

From a website I was reading....

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The part I am talking about is quoted below from that site, please note the last few words --- Study that Standard of Perfection

I don’t want any black in the tails of the males.  A little “pepper” (small black or gray spots) in the tails of females isn’t a bad thing.  You want to keep some of those females in your breeding pen, according to some long-time poultry breeders.  They say that you will eventually lose your good buff color if you cull all those females with any pepper in the tail. Those are a few basics that I use in my buff orpington breeding and showing.  There’s lots more for you and me to learn.  Study that Standard of Perfection.

such cute little chicks!

Cynthia, I do believe Foal's chicks turned out to be crosses, not pure Buff Orpingtons as the eggs were supposed to be.  But they sure were a cute bunch!  It would be fun to see some photos now to see how they matured.

I dug up a photo of some of my Buff Orpington chicks from this spring to compare color.  These, and the ones Cynthia posted do appear more honey-colored than the ones Foal 0069 hatched which seemed lighter, almost white in some pictures and the spots on those ones were darker, almost black compared to the brown that some Buff varieties have.  

These chicks are from one of my exhibition groups I call my "Hope" line.  I use the toe punch method to track them.  The ones from this line mostly all hatch this way, but despite the dark head markings and uneven down, they develop incredibly uniform, rich adult buff color.  So very pretty!

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Kathy, yep, many of my chicks are uneven buff coloured, as I said too, have the dark markings. Never got around to marking what is what, I think it is just how the chick down is. I would actually like to know if this is not a good thing, or is an acceptable chick down. Do you ever talk to a big time breeder of the buff orpington (I think you do, smiling). Why don't you ask? It would be good for both you and I and other breeders of buff (probably happens in other buff coloured birds too, now maybe that is another thing to talk and think about and ask about). do, it KathyS, ask   have a wonderful day, CynthiaM.

KathyS wrote:Cynthia, I do believe Foal's chicks turned out to be crosses, not pure Buff Orpingtons as the eggs were supposed to be.  But they sure were a cute bunch!  It would be fun to see some photos now to see how they matured.

I dug up a photo of some of my Buff Orpington chicks from this spring to compare color.  These, and the ones Cynthia posted do appear more honey-colored than the ones Foal 0069 hatched which seemed lighter, almost white in some pictures and the spots on those ones were darker, almost black compared to the brown that some Buff varieties have.  

These chicks are from one of my exhibition groups I call my "Hope" line.  I use the toe punch method to track them.  The ones from this line mostly all hatch this way, but despite the dark head markings and uneven down, they develop incredibly uniform, rich adult buff color.  So very pretty!

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Cute tray o chicks. lol

Kathy, I don't want to derail this post, but have to ask how you do your toe punching because I can see in the pic you make such neat little holes. I've been removing most of the web in my chicks because I thought it would grow back otherwise or a hole might snag in something. You haven't noticed any of these issues?  Maybe I should start a new topic?