What happens if you breed two black sex links?

Poppy Putentake said:

About the color:

A Rooster from the "Black Sex Link" cross is barred black and white. The barring is dominant, but since he only has one gene for it (on one of his two "Z" sex chromosomes), he would pass the barring gene on to only half of his offspring, both male and female.

The base color is on one of the regular, non sex, chromosomes. Both the hen Black Sex LInk and the cock have one gene for red (recesssive) and one for black (dominant). Beause the black gene is dominant, that's what color the birds are. 3/4 of the next generation will get at least one gene for black and show the black color. (The 1/4 that get two black genes will probably have less (or no) red showing through.) 1/4 will get two red genes and be red.

So, in the next generation, both sexes will be like this:

3/8 solid black (1/8 all black, 1/4 with some red)
1/8 solid red
3/8 barred black and white
1/8 barred red and white

If you actually do this cross, I hope you tell us what colors you do get!

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libbie said:

Great information - very informative! Any chance you could do the same breakdown for two red sexlinks? ISA brown hens under a red sexlink roo?

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chameleon said:

Thanks for all that information. I'm glad they'll be healthy, the stock I'm starting with is from a good breeder so I should be starting out with some reasonably strong chickens, especially the Koekoeks that have been bred for hardiness. And I also thought that as with any animal, cross breeds are generally stronger and healthier. I was just worried if they lay too much it may compromise their health, but I'm glad it doesn't, thanks.

As for the colour, sorry if I'm asking silly questions, I'm just curious. Does that mean that going forward the barnyard mixes would end up being just black then?

Edited to fix some spelling mistakes

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