Lavender Ameraucana X Golden Comet Chicks - Are they sexlink?

[cls009]

I had some chicks hatch out today from a Lavender Ameraucana rooster and some Golden Comet hens and have been rather surprised by what hatched out! All of the chicks are either very light yellow (possibly with a few small black splotches, but its hard to tell because they are still in the incubator and not dried out), or solid black. The black ones have fully black feet and beaks, and the light ones have fully pinkish white feet and beaks. They are roughly half light and half dark so I'm assuming that they are probably sexlink chicks. There is no real variation in the chicks (meaning nothing that hatched out in between these two light and dark extremes). Any ideas as to which are the roosters and which are the hens if they are sexlink?

 

[NatJ]

I had some chicks hatch out today from a Lavender Ameraucana rooster and some Golden Comet hens and have been rather surprised by what hatched out! All of the chicks are either very light yellow (possibly with a few small black splotches, but its hard to tell because they are still in the incubator and not dried out), or solid black. The black ones have fully black feet and beaks, and the light ones have fully pinkish white feet and beaks. They are roughly half light and half dark so I'm assuming that they are probably sexlink chicks. There is no real variation in the chicks (meaning nothing that hatched out in between these two light and dark extremes). Any ideas as to which are the roosters and which are the hens if they are sexlink?

Nope, not sexlinks.

The lavender rooster gave genes that will make a chick black all over. He has the lavender gene turning all his black into a light gray, but the lavender gene is recessive. Since each chick inherits it from him but not from the Golden Comet mother, the chicks do not show lavender coloring.

Golden Comets have a gene that turns black into white (that is why they have white tails.) But they also carry the gene that allows black to show. Half of the chicks inherit the gene that turns black into white (those are your light chicks.) The other half of the chicks inherit the gene that allows black (those are your black chicks.)

The gene that turns black into white is called Dominant White (useful if you want to do more research on the matter, otherwise doesn't matter.) That gene is a bit leaky, so it lets some bits of black show through here and there (the black splotches on the light chicks.)

Each color of chick has an equal chance of being male or female.

 

[cls009]

Thank you! That is so helpful!