can any "production red" experts tell me if this is a little roo? - Page 4

I am not 100% sure on this but in order to feather sex the parents need be a hen with fast feathering gene and a male with slow feathering gene but you get the slow feather gene in the hens to carry on but not the fast feathering in the cocks so mating siblings would not make feather sexing accurate in the offspring second generation and subsequent hatchings.  Correct?

Feather Sexing Chicks

Color sexing chicks can be a difficult task and is dependent upon the phenotype of the chick.  If a chick does not have the correct down color, then you can not color sex the chick.  There is a way of using another sex-linked trait to sex chicks based upon the size of the primary and secondary feathers on the wing of a newly hatched chick.

Feather sexing chicks can be accomplished by crossing males that are homozygous for rapid feather growth or carry two rapid feather growth alleles ( k+/k+) with females that are hemizygous or carry only one slow feather growth allele ( K/_W).

The female parent contributes a dominant gene for slow feather growth (K) to all the male offspring while the female offspring will inherit only one rapid feather growth allele ( k+)  from the father. This cross produces males that have slow feather growth (K/k+) and females that have rapid feather growth (k+/_W). 

   
The following site provides an excellent example of how to tell the difference between a rapid feathering female (pullet) chick and a slow feathering male (cockerel) chick. You have to examine the feathers on the wings of the newly hatched chick. Wait until the down dries and examine the wing feathers.

http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld006.htm


The table below contains some of the birds that can be crossed to produce chicks that can be feather sexed.

Any of the males in the table, can be crossed with any of the females in the table to produce offspring that can be feather sexed. If you purchased your birds from a hatchery, check with the hatchery to see if the hatchery feather sexed the birds you purchased. If your stock was feather sexed, then the chickens can not be used for feather sexing crosses. 

Thank you Lothiriel, that is what I was trying to say.   Feather sexing in subsequent hatchings is unreliable.  As I understand it you must go back to the same cross and crossing siblings will not work.  As some have suggested.

I did do a cross where so far the cocks have white legs and the hens have green or slate but am still working on that project to see if it holds.

It is a one time cross just like color sex-links.

Most hatcheries have a fast feathering male line and a slow feathering line of a breed.
In the case of a Production Red the fast feathering male line is most likely from crossing to the Leghorn then breeding for faster feathering and to somewhat look like a Rhode Island Red.

More and more hatcheries are feather sexing there birds so in turn more and more hatcheries are selling cross bred fowl.Chris

They have been doing that for years with the  "americana, ameraucana, aracana or how ever they spell it "   I do wonder how they get away with advertising them as a specific breed when they are not.  I think leghorns are used quite a bit for upping egg production in many traditional breeds.

It is a one time cross just like color sex-links.

Most hatcheries have a fast feathering male line and a slow feathering line of a breed.
In the case of a Production Red the fast feathering male line is most likely from crossing to the Leghorn then breeding for faster feathering and to somewhat look like a Rhode Island Red.

More and more hatcheries are feather sexing there birds so in turn more and more hatcheries are selling cross bred fowl.

Chris