Sex- linked Information

[Kev]

Thank you!

No problem. I realize it seems there's a point of contention being made about just what BCM are.

I also used to assume they were birchen(ER) without a second thought, until I got and started breeding BCM. Then I got to thinking about the chick down and adult color patterns and deliberately crossed to see if any of the cross/mix chicks would show the more typical ER pattern, none did, Always the very black chicks with white wing tips and bellies, which is what the charts say and show as E pattern chick down. Even the cross hens would come out black or with small amount of color limited to neck.

Crosses with typical ER(different breeds) showed typical ER chick down pattern and a lot more color on the adults.

One thing about E, it will not allow patterns to show(besides barring in some cases with blue).. so if you wanted to breed for lacing for example, it would not work at all for this reason.. you need ER for this. So they may superifically look similar with seemingly minor differences but the 'consequences are great'. Sebrights are lacing genes on an ER bird, it is just not possible on E.. it would remain all black.

Probably way too much more than you asked for but wanted to give insight why I'm standing firm on this and since you will potentially get extremely different results on the chicken calculator between E or ER which could become very confusing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The more I learn about chicken genetics I feel the less I know. I knew there were modifiers that work on Extended Black. I did not know that Extended Black needed certain modifiers to make an all-black chicken. I knew that melanizers can turn a birchen solid black. That’s why you can’t assume a solid black chicken is really Extended Black.

Trying to wrap my head around your comments, are you saying you might use Extended Black for BCM hens but not the roosters, the roosters but not the hens, or maybe for both?

 

[Kev]

I was in the same boat as you as for E and ER, very confusing, still am confused or even wrong some things.

What I have come to understand-

E minus melanizers have less color, especially the hens. Hens can be solid black, or nearly so with minimal trace color on head/hackles.

ER generally have more color- many standards using 'birchen' call for there to be lacing on the breast. It's variable for reasons unknown to me, the lacing can be minimal or quite extensive, covering the whole body even but this is uncommon. Hens are very rarely all black on ER if wild type for everything else, they "always" have color on the hackles at the minimum. So if you get solid black hens and melanizers are no involved, suspect E.

The difference can be strong when you cross E and ER to either eWh, e+ or eb. What I saw was many solid black or solid black with color only on hackle hens with E crosses, lots of color and lacing in ER crosses.

It's harder to tell with roosters as there is a phenotype overlap between E and ER roosters. I think this is the main reason one can get away with breeding E base BCM- the roosters have some color anyways, but the hens might sometimes not have enough color.

My personal experience with BCM both pure and crosses were that a lot of solid black hens showed up. I suspected melanizers until second and third generation birds from cross continued to throw solid black hens despite being bred with e, eWh each generation. None had the birchen type lacing. Seems like E to me... as the same experience using ER(other breeds) invariably threw highly patterned birds- lots of lacing on hens and lots of color leak on roosters.

It would be very interesting if someone put all the genes necessary for sebright type lacing onto BCM. If they continue to be BC color then it is E for sure.. but if they come up laced then it will prove ER is present(but then it would not prove E does not exist in the variety..)

 

[A roo or two]

okay, I believe I have created sexlinks? My roo is a Speckled Sussex and I own 3 Coronation Sussex. Last hatch I got one odd colored chick I didn't expect (didn't realize my CS were laying yet, all other chicks were chipmunked as they were SS or SS/CLB) and just thought I accidentally set a RSL egg hence the white/yellow chick. This odd chick was yellow with a black line on the back of the head and a tiny bit of color that started to show in the wing tips in a couple days. Someone on here told me it should make a sexlink but I was expecting solid yellow males and light red females. Anyhow this is what that chick currently looks like at 2 weeks old


well this time I got this!

The little yellow chick has the same dark line on it's head as the chick before when it hatched. The red ones also have the same line but in a dark brown. So does this mean they are a sexlink? I would hate to advertise them as such locally or give to family/friends telling them the reds are girls and they aren't

 

[englishcockers]

If you are sure that the eggs are from Coronation Sussex and that the father is Speckled Sussex, the chicks are sex linked.
As I understand it
It's the same as if the moms were light sussex except that the chicks are split for the lavender gene

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree they should be sex links if they are pure. The Coronation hen has silver and the SS gold and it will clearly show up in the down.

I did some internet searching on whether the blue or lavender gene is used for Coronation. It appears both are, which somehow doesn’t surprise me.

The Lavender gene is a recessive gene that affects black, so in that cross would not show up in the first generation.

The blue gene is another gene that affects black but it is really confusing to some. Two copies and you have Splash, one copy blue, and no copies black. So if that Coronation is based on Blue instead of Lavender, half the chicks from that cross should have blue and half black.

 

[MaLoTu]

I just bought 7 black sex-linked chicks. One has a really reddish brown face, but the top of the head is black ... is it a roo? I read the first page of this thread, but I am so new to chicken raising that it does not make perfect sense to me!

 

[sonew123]

I need help oh smart awesome gurus!!! Im hatching out chicks for the first time this year...Ive had people hatching my eggs all winter with good results as far as hatching out what the babies should be...for the most part..I told them there might be a cross mix because of the BCM roo being in with the ccl hens, here is my issue..

In my large barn mixed pen I have a CCL rooster and 10 CCL hens in with 6 types of marans and a BCM rooster...the chicks hatching out of my CCL eggs are black i think that means sex links right? BCM roo x CCL hens white dot on the heads? =roosters?

The marans hens are 3 BCM and 3 cuckoo marans hens the chicks all look alike!!! I came home from work to see 5 chicks from CCL eggs and marans eggs hatched I dont know who belongs to what eggs..wasn't expecting that;( I have emoty eggshells from both kinds.

Each one has a dot of some sort...help?

 

[jerryse]

sonew123 No help for that mix . All received a barring gene from the CCL rooster . The CCL x Cuckoo cross will have double barred males . They should have large head spots . The rest are all single barred and can not be sexed at hatch .

 

[englishcockers]

I just bought 7 black sex-linked chicks. One has a really reddish brown face, but the top of the head is black ... is it a roo? I read the first page of this thread, but I am so new to chicken raising that it does not make perfect sense to me!

No, the roos from black sex link cross should have a white spot on the head