Mixed breeds

[Mister B]

I noticed that there are a lot of posts on here about, "I have a this kind of rooster and this kind of hen, what will that make?" I will tell you that I am curious as well. So, I want to start a thread that would eventually be searchable. If you have some mixed breed chickens, will you post pictures? Put in your reply: "Rooster breed x Hen breed" so that if I want to see what a Barred Rock x Delaware cross would look like, I can search "Barred Rock x Delaware" and it would show up in the search results. I think. or, is this already a thing somewhere?

 

[Michael OShay]

I can give you some information on the various sex link chickens and the names under which they are sold. These are crosses that can be sexed by color at birth.

Black Sex Link (Black Star, Bovans Nera)=Rhode Island Red male X Barred Rock female
Brown Sex Link=Rhode Island Red male X White Rock female
Gold Sex Link (Cinnamon Queen, Bovans Brown, Golden Buff, Amber Star)=Rhode Island Red male X Rhode Island White female
Red Sex Link=Rhode Island Red male X Delaware female
Golden Comet=Production Red male X Rhode Island White female
Hubbard Golden Comet=New Hampshire Red male X White Rock female
ISA Brown (Shaver Brown, Babcock Brown)=Rhode Island Red male X White Leghorn female
Bovans Goldline=Rhode Island Red male X Light Sussex female
California White=California Gray male X White Leghorn female

You should be able to find plenty of pictures and articles of the above crosses on line. It is easy to breed sex link chickens. I have done it myself. The vast majority of them (as you can see) are bred by crosses a red rooster (either a RIR, NH Red, or Production Red with a white/silver hen).

 

[Mister B]

Having taught biology, I know some traits are linked to the sex chromosome. In these breeds, does it matter which starting breed is male and female? If so, what do you get if you, "breed backwards" like a RIR hen and a Delaware rooster?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Having taught biology, I know some traits are linked to the sex chromosome. In these breeds, does it matter which starting breed is male and female? If so, what do you get if you, "breed backwards" like a RIR hen and a Delaware rooster?

It matters a great deal which breeds are male and female if you're trying to make a sex-lined cross. If you breed a RIR male x Delaware female, you get a Red Sex Link hybrid. Do it the other way, you just get a non sex-linked mutt chicken.

The biggest difference between chicken and human sex-linked heredity is that in chickens, it's the female that has the stunted chromosome. So the genes for barring are on that chromosome, and in barred breeds like the Barred Rocks below, the female has one copy of the barring gene and the male has two. You can see this in the photo--it's why the female's barring is so thick and dark while the males is lighter and thinner. (not my photo, btw).



tadkerson has by far the best sex-linked genetics information on BYC. Here's a link that you may find helpful. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

 

[Mister B]

That is interesting. Is the sex link coloring the only thing that would be altered? Would a male RIR Female Delaware offspring have the same characteristics as a male Delaware x female RIR, other than the sexlink coloring? I find this sort of thing fascinating.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

That is interesting. Is the sex link coloring the only thing that would be altered? Would a male RIR Female Delaware offspring have the same characteristics as a male Delaware x female RIR, other than the sexlink coloring? I find this sort of thing fascinating.

I've always found it very interesting that a RSL or BSL cross often has better egglaying potential than either parent. I don't know if you'd get the same result if you switched parents. I would think you would, since egg color and egglaying potential in the offspring is governed by genes from both parents. I've never tried it "backwards" that I know about. I may have when I hatched eggs, but I have a bunch of breeds of hens in with a bunch of breeds of roosters so unless I've set up a specific breeding pen what I hatch out is Barnyard Potpourri and I never know what I'm going to get.

 

[Mister B]

That's what I will end up with. I am not really into show birds, so its no problem. I like the science of it and trying to hypothesize what might pop out of the egg at the end. I have a black australorp with black australorp hens but soon, I will add some RIR hens and Golden Buff hens as well as at least one barred rock. It ought to be interesting to see what pops out. Thanks!

 

[DelawareChickin]

Later tonight I will post a male speckled Sussex X female new Hampshire red. I will post therooster it makes. A very nice one

 

[Michael OShay]

It is surprising the temperament differences that you get from some of these otherwise similar sex links. For example, we have had both Black Sex Links (RIR X Barred Rock) and Brown Sex Links (RIR X White Rock). You would think the temperaments of the two hybrids would be essentially the same since they are both bred from the same two breeds (with only color in the Plymouth Rocks being difference) and yet, the Black Sex Links have been consistently a little more docile and friendlier than the Brown Sex Links, no matter what hatchery we got them from or whether we bred them ourselves. It is an interesting phenomenon.

 

[hoganTEF]

Mine are only six weeks old, but here are some pictures of "what popped out" in crosses with a Black Australorp Rooster...

With a Barred Rock hen

With a Buff Orpington Hen

With a Delaware Hen