Black Star Roo

A Black Star is generally a Black Sex Link rooster.  That does not tell a whole lot, actually.  Some hatcheries will cross some of their own breeds to make BSL's.  There are many different breeds they can use for the roosters and a few breeds they can use for the hens.  A normal combination could be Rhode Island Red rooster over a Barred Rock hen, but there are plenty of other options.

Some hatcheries sell commercial egg layers as Black Stars, or Black Sex Links.  These are chickens that have been very selectively bred for many generations to produce highly specialized egg layers suitable for the commercial egg laying operations.  These chickens are fairly small and often have a lot of leghorn in them.  The small bodies do not take much of feed to maintain large body masses.  It is an efficiency thing for commercial egg layers.  The ones made by crossing regular breeds are larger and not as efficient on the feed to egg ratio.

That may be more information than you wanted, but chickens tend to have the traits of their parents.  If the BSL is from crossing two dual purpose breeds, he will tend to have chicks that are good dual purpose chicks.  Of course, that depends on what the hen is too.  If he is from the commercial egg layers, his offspring will tend to be smaller and the pullets will probably lay pretty well.

The BSL rooster is a cross.  He will almost certainly be black barred in appearance.  But genetically, he is split for barred, not pure.  That means he has one gene that is barred but one that is not.  If the hen he is crossed with is not barred, about half his chicks will be barred and half will not. 

That's about all I can tell you with any confidence without knowing more about his parents.  Several different genes could be split.  For example, it is probable that he is split for extended black.  That's not necessary.  A Black Australorp rooster over a Cuckoo Maran hen will give you a black sex link that is pure for extended black, but a red rooster will not.  This opens up a lot of possibilities.  A rooster split for extended black will have about half his offspring black but the other half could be different colors and patterns.  And of course, it depends on what hens he is crossed with.  If you cross him with a Black Ameraucana, all the offspring from that cross should be black, regardless of his parentage, although half will also be barred.  But if you cross him with a hen that is pure for dominant white, you get something else entirely. 

Probably not a lot of help.  It would help to know somethign about his background and what hens you would cross him with. 

I just saw your post on Black Star hens.  The same thing I said about ancestry, whether crossed from two dual purpose breeds or the commercial breeds, applies to the hens too.  It would really help a lot to know what their parents looked like.

Assuming that a red rooster was the father and a black barred hen was the mother, If you cross the offsping, about half will be barred.  About 3/4 will be basically black.  About 1/4 would probably be some sort of red.  But there could be different patterns.  About half of the red ones would be barred.  Ands it is possible they would not just be red but could possibly be different colors or shades. 

Anytime you mate crosses, you can get a hodgepodge of looks in the chicks.  There are a whole lot of different genes that make up the overall appearance of a chicken, color and pattern.  Just a little difference in how those genes go together can significantly change the color and pattern of a chicken.  Crosses are not predictable in the second generation.  To me, that adds to the excirement. 

http://assets.backyardchickens.com.s3.amazonaws.com/9/92/200x200px-ZC-923d9558_69833_dscf0431.jpeg

We're bred the Black Sex Link-Black Star back and we get basically a BR type chicken with the roosters having considerable gold leakage in the wings.  Since typically this is a RIR rooster over a Barred Rock the F2 starts to look for BR.   Actually, we really like this mix.  Here's an F2 pullet.

http://assets.backyardchickens.com.s3.amazonaws.com/9/92/200x200px-ZC-923d9558_69833_dscf0431.jpeg

We're bred the Black Sex Link-Black Star back and we get basically a BR type chicken with the roosters having considerable gold leakage in the wings.  Since typically this is a RIR rooster over a Barred Rock the F2 starts to look for BR.   Actually, we really like this mix.  Here's an F2 pullet.

Edit:  Trying to master this new thing!   lol

They would all "work" in the sense that you'd get chickens.  The question is better phrased, what are you going for?   Personally, I'd use him over Black Stars or Barred Rocks myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred's Hens 

http://assets.backyardchickens.com.s3.amazonaws.com/9/92/200x200px-ZC-923d9558_69833_dscf0431.jpeg

 

We're bred the Black Sex Link-Black Star back and we get basically a BR type chicken with the roosters having considerable gold leakage in the wings.  Since typically this is a RIR rooster over a Barred Rock the F2 starts to look for BR.   Actually, we really like this mix.  Here's an F2 pullet.

 

 

 

 

Edit:  Trying to master this new thing!   lol

Fred, that does not make sense genetically.  Since the hens are not barred and the roosters are split for barring, about half should be not barred and half should be barred.  Last summer I hatched out four with that genetic make-up and got four out of four barred, so I clearly understand that odds are just odds and you are really not likely to see a half and half split unless you hatch a lot of chicks.  Did you maybe just hatch a few? 

I'll admit to being confused.