Will their chicks be sexlinked? Will they be sexlinked by skin color?

[Cloverr39]

I have a cuckoo silkie hen with light skin and a dominant white silkie roo with dark skin.

I know that cuckoo female x non-cuckoo male results in non-cuckoo females and cuckoo males. That would be fine if I bred my hen to a black rooster. But I only have a dominant white rooster. I'm wondering since silkie roo x hen with light skin results in chicks sexlinked by skin color - females have dark skin, males have light skin - would my silkie rooster x light skinned silkie hen result in the same thing?

Would those chicks be sexlinked both by feather color and skin color (females - dark skin, not cuckoo and males - light skin, cuckoo)?

 

[Amer]

Yes, the males would be light skinned cuckoo paint and the females would be dark skinned paint.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's worth noting that dominant white often fades the skin color especially right at hatch, so give them a couple weeks if it looks like you have all males based on their skin color at hatch.

These are two skin color sexlinks I hatched out of a dominant white Silkie male crossed to a Cochin bantam female. You can see there's a tinge of color to the skin on the female (purple leg band), but it was not very apparent in person and I didn't realize she was a pullet until much later.

A few weeks later, the skin color difference was more apparent (but they were also quite fluffy, so their feet don't show much in their pictures, sorry about that!) :

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. Where is the best place to look for skin color in chicks? Legs, face or body?

Legs. I never looked at the body, so I don't know if that works as well, but the face can be misleading.

Case in point, two siblings of the birds I posted above. Neither inherited dominant white, so they were sexable immediately. When the first hatched, I thought I'd gotten a pullet based on the face, then realized his shanks were pale.

 

[Cloverr39]

Yes, the males would be light skinned cuckoo paint and the females would be dark skinned paint.

Thank you. I'm not sure how many chicks will be paint, because I don't know if my rooster is homozygous or heterozygous for dominant white. This will be my first batch of chicks from him.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. Where is the best place to look for skin color in chicks? Legs, face or body?

Armpit and neck for me. But mine always take a day or two to darken. Never hatch dark skinned for some reason

 

[Amer]

Your rooster probably isn’t barred under the white. Maybe the pigment will fade?
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/im...Hatchery-Barred-Plymouth-Rock-Baby-Chicks.jpg
These barred rock chicks, for example.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

How fast they feather depends on the genetics of their parents and what specific genes they inherited. All of mine feathered at the same rate because all inherited fast feathering from their parents. Since neither parent was slow to feather, neither could pass on the gene to slow feathering speed in their offspring. I do believe that slow feathering is sexlinked dominant over fast feathering, but that also means that a slow-feathering male could be carrying the gene for fast feathering and pass that to any of his offspring as well. More than likely it's just coincidental that only the females inherited it in your case. The darker shanks on females is to be expected in that cross.

 

[Cloverr39]

It's worth noting that dominant white often fades the skin color especially right at hatch, so give them a couple weeks if it looks like you have all males based on their skin color at hatch.

These are two skin color sexlinks I hatched out of a dominant white Silkie male crossed to a Cochin bantam female. You can see there's a tinge of color to the skin on the female (purple leg band), but it was not very apparent in person and I didn't realize she was a pullet until much later.

View attachment 3412681View attachment 3412682

A few weeks later, the skin color difference was more apparent (but they were also quite fluffy, so their feet don't show much in their pictures, sorry about that!) :

View attachment 3412692View attachment 3412690

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. Where is the best place to look for skin color in chicks? Legs, face or body?

 

[Cloverr39]

A bit unrelated, but what does it mean when chicks have light tips of their toes? This is one of my silkie chicks from last year. As it grew the toes all turned black. Is this bad or does it not matter as long as they turn black when the chick gets older?