Black Chick Down color

[Cesar Villegas]

I hatched some chicks this weekend.

One chick was mine and the others my friend.

Both chicks are not related and have black parents. My chick black dam was never exposed to another rooster. Both dam and sire of my chick come from the same line. When it hatched I noticed it was very light and shanks werent dark, compare to the other chick not belonging to me.  I know chicks based off "E" can be black and white but never like this.

Can anyone shed some light?

[Mike Gilbert]

Check to see if the lighter colored chick turns out to be a mottled.   The black parents could have been carrying some recessives that became homozygous in this particular chick.