Barred rock roo ISA hen

[charlie6]

Wondering if anyone on here has tried crossing A Barred rock rooster with ISA hens. One of my chickens turned out to be a rooster and thinking of making him more useful before he becomes a soup.... he sings at 3am

 

[donrae]

If he's a pure barred Rock, all his offspring will be barred, and mostly black. You'll get some red and white leakage from the hen's side, maybe a few calico looking birds. IIRC this hen had a similar background......



The pullets should be good layers. Not as stellar as the ISA mothers, but very good. The cockerels may be a bit light for the table, but they'll still make a meal.

 

[charlie6]

Thanks for the help, I'll give it a try. Makes a pretty nice looking bird. My ISA's lay lots but burn out quick it seems. This might make a longer lasting but not quite as productive hen, I'd be happy with that. I understand that you sex them by colours. Any idea what colour the roo's would be so I could pull them early?

 

[donrae]

Nope, won't be sex linked for color with that cross.

Black sex links need a non-barred, non white rooster over a barred hen. In that case, males are barred (hatch with a white spot on the head) and females are not (solid dark heads).

With a barred rooster, all his offspring are barred, regardless of gender. So you'll have to wait for the other signs of male, like comb, leg thickness, etc.

 

[charlie6]

thanks for the help. hopefully i get lucky and dont get too many roosters. i guess they probably wont really show any signs till their around 4 months or so... that'll be a bit of extra food.

 

[donrae]

Both those parent breeds are pretty fast maturing, so I'm thinking you'll know your cockerels around 6-8 weeks.