RIR x SLW

[KEarthman]

Hi!
We hatched some chicks from RIR x SLW for Red Sex Links. They hatched, and they all have stripes or bars on them. Some are whitish (male?) and some are reddish (female). For the life of us we cannot get the pics to load. Would the reddish and whitish color still be the gender determining thing? Has anyone else had these? Do the bars make any difference on the color to determine gender? Thanks!

 

[NatJ]

We hatched some chicks from RIR x SLW for Red Sex Links. They hatched, and they all have stripes or bars on them. Some are whitish (male?) and some are reddish (female). For the life of us we cannot get the pics to load. Would the reddish and whitish color still be the gender determining thing? Has anyone else had these? Do the bars make any difference on the color to determine gender? Thanks!

So the chicks have a Rhode Island Red father, and Silver Laced Wyandotte mother?
Yes, the reddish ones would be females, and the whitish ones would be males.

Having stripes or bars should not be related to their sex.

 

[BastyPutt]

So the chicks have a Rhode Island Red father, and Silver Laced Wyandotte mother?
Yes, the reddish ones would be females, and the whitish ones would be males.

Having stripes or bars should not be related to their sex.

This is interesting.

Genetically, how would you come to this conclusion? 100% not doubting, but very curious.

 

[NatJ]

This is interesting.

Genetically, how would you come to this conclusion? 100% not doubting, but very curious.

Short answer: reddish vs. yellow is the effect of the gold/silver gene, located on the Z sex chromsome and commonly used to create sexlinks. The stripes or bars in the chick color would be caused by autosomal genes, meaning they are inherited on other chromosomes that affect both genders equally.



Longer answer about the sexlink part:

The sex linkage is based on the gold/silver gene, which is located on the Z sex chromosome.

Males have chromosomes ZZ, females have ZW.
A rooster inherits Z from each parent, and gives Z to each chick he sires.
A hen inherits Z from her father and gives it to her sons. She inherits W from her mother, and gives it to her daughters. This also means the hen determines the sex of her chick, by which chromosome she gives them.

A hen only has one Z chromosome, so she can have gold or she can have silver, but not both. The Silver Laced Wyandotte hen is silver. She will give silver to her sons, and a W chromsome to her daughters (does not affect their color.)

A rooster has two Z chromosomes, so he can have 2 gold, or 2 silver, or one of each. When a rooster has both gold and silver, he shows silver, because that is the dominant gene of the pair. In this case, the Rhode Island Red rooster is gold, so he has gold on both Z chromsomes. He gives every chick a Z chromosome with gold. For the daughters, that is the only Z they get, so they show gold (reddish color.) For the sons, they have two Z chromosomes, one with gold from their father, one with silver from their mother. Because silver is the dominant gene, the sons show silver (pale color, whitish or yellowish.)

 

[BastyPutt]

Short answer: reddish vs. yellow is the effect of the gold/silver gene, located on the Z sex chromsome and commonly used to create sexlinks. The stripes or bars in the chick color would be caused by autosomal genes, meaning they are inherited on other chromosomes that affect both genders equally.



Longer answer about the sexlink part:

The sex linkage is based on the gold/silver gene, which is located on the Z sex chromosome.

Males have chromosomes ZZ, females have ZW.
A rooster inherits Z from each parent, and gives Z to each chick he sires.
A hen inherits Z from her father and gives it to her sons. She inherits W from her mother, and gives it to her daughters. This also means the hen determines the sex of her chick, by which chromosome she gives them.

A hen only has one Z chromosome, so she can have gold or she can have silver, but not both. The Silver Laced Wyandotte hen is silver. She will give silver to her sons, and a W chromsome to her daughters (does not affect their color.)

A rooster has two Z chromosomes, so he can have 2 gold, or 2 silver, or one of each. When a rooster has both gold and silver, he shows silver, because that is the dominant gene of the pair. In this case, the Rhode Island Red rooster is gold, so he has gold on both Z chromsomes. He gives every chick a Z chromosome with gold. For the daughters, that is the only Z they get, so they show gold (reddish color.) For the sons, they have two Z chromosomes, one with gold from their father, one with silver from their mother. Because silver is the dominant gene, the sons show silver (pale color, whitish or yellowish.)

Very interesting. Thank you.