Cream Legbar hybrid - possible autosexing

[Lacunata]

I have cream legbar hens and lost my cockerel to a polecat last year. I have his son (result of a cross with a buff sussex) and was thinking of putting him with the other unrelated hens.

Does anyone know if their potential offspring would be autosexing or not? I am hoping so if they are 3/4ths cream legbar but don't know enough about what factors would affect it.

 

[Bobmc914]

No, sadly the chicks will not be autosexing like full legbars.
The autosexing relies on a rooster with 2 copies of the barring gene and a hen with one. The gene is sex linked so males can have 0, 1, or 2 copies. Hens can have 0 or one.
Legbars, and similar autosexing breeds have roosters with two and hens with one. So male chicks have 2 copies and are therefore visibly lighter than the females with one copy.

Your rooster has one copy of the barring gene, so male chicks can get zero or one copy from him and one from the mother. Female chicks will get zero from the hen and one or zero from the father.
So, 1/2 of male chicks will be double barred, 1/2 will be single barred. 1/2 of female chicks will be single barred and 1/2 not barred.
You will be able to identify the double barred cockerels and probably the unbarred pullets. The other half of the chicks will be single barred, half male, half female.
1/4 of the chicks will be clearly males, 1/4 clearly female, and 1/2 unsexable.

 

[Lacunata]

Many Thanks - that actually makes a lot of sense. I was clueless as to what genes affected the autosexing and the 50% unsexable chicks is kind of what I expected given the rooster is hybrid.

 

[windyridgefarm]

No, sadly the chicks will not be autosexing like full legbars.
The autosexing relies on a rooster with 2 copies of the barring gene and a hen with one. The gene is sex linked so males can have 0, 1, or 2 copies. Hens can have 0 or one.
Legbars, and similar autosexing breeds have roosters with two and hens with one. So male chicks have 2 copies and are therefore visibly lighter than the females with one copy.

Your rooster has one copy of the barring gene, so male chicks can get zero or one copy from him and one from the mother. Female chicks will get zero from the hen and one or zero from the father.
So, 1/2 of male chicks will be double barred, 1/2 will be single barred. 1/2 of female chicks will be single barred and 1/2 not barred.
You will be able to identify the double barred cockerels and probably the unbarred pullets. The other half of the chicks will be single barred, half male, half female.
1/4 of the chicks will be clearly males, 1/4 clearly female, and 1/2 unsexable.

Thank you that is a simple and easy way to think about it. On some level I understood this, however I was more focused on the other factor involved. Your straightforward explanation just made it all click in a way I hadn't thought about before. Making me feel a little silly that I hadn't before lol

 

[McChooky]

The legbar rooster passes the barring gene down to all his chicks (both pullets and cockerels) and has 2 copies of the barring gene.I have 2 legbar cockerels and several autosexing breeds thank you.Hope this helps!

 

[McChooky]

I realize this is an older post and hope its still relevant.