SPORTS

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SunnySideUpGUAM

SunnySideUpGUAM

Songster
Jan 3, 2016
163
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GUAM True Paradise
I just ordered 40 BPRs with the intention of maintaining a purebred flock, as well as crossing them to produce BSLs from time to time.
After I placed the order I found that breeding BPRs requires breeding sports, a few different color varieties in the breed, to maintain good barring and so on.

I also would like to produce RSLs using birds with a columbian type colorings. Do breeds like the Columbian Rocks and Delawares breed true? or do they also require the use of sports to maintain quality breeders?
 
I've never heard of using other color varieties. I don't see how that would improve barring, a bird is either barred or is isn't. If you use a non-barred color, how is that going to improve your barring? You'll get non-barred, mixed color birds.
 
No the other varieties are "Sports". Within the BPR breed there are four colors: the barred males, the barred females, the light barred males, and the black females. The light barred males and black females are called "sports". And in order to maintain quality birds you gotta use them in your breeding program.
 
I'm pretty sure it's not a US thing, so I'm not familiar with it. maybe someone from the UK or Oz will chime in. I've only heard of breeding barred to barred. In my experience, a single barred male isn't a pure barred Rock and it makes the barring much messier (black sex link male).
 
I'm pretty sure it's a universal thing. When you breed a barred male and a barred female you get each color, barred, light barred, and black.

Have you guys ever bred BPRs? You probably won't hear about unless you breed them or ask someone who does. Or you just produce birds without a real purpose and just get what you get be content. Which is fine, I just have other plans.
 
I was curious about this as I have never heard of this method being used in the US either. So I looked up barring in the Genetics of Chicken Colours. According to the author, the UK and European standard states both sexes must be the same shade of dark barring. To achieve that they need use the dual mating system like the one in the link SunnySideUpGUAM provided. A footnote in the US standard it states that barring is sex linked, that males have 2 copies of the gene and therefore will be lighter in color than the females. So in the US a single pen system is acceptable. In Australia they adopted 2 varieties, Dark Barred and Light Barred, and allow males and females of both to be shown.
 
@keesmom if the case in the whole US that lighter colored males are more acceptable than dark barred males then like the link above states

Light male x Barred female= light males and barred females only as it is self repeating.
with this mating you dont produce sports, but your program may result in bad barring over time using only light males for breeding.

@enola it also makes sense that hatchery birds will not produce sports because it is not in the hatchery's interest to breed birds they cant sell, and hatchery birds are not what i want, everyone on here says hatchery birds are no where near breeder quality
 
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