2nd Gen Midnight Majesty Marans

[Chickenhead11]

I am hatching out 2nd gen midnight majesty marans. Is it expedited that I will lose the sex link? Love the breed and am only hatching the darkest of eggs.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They're not a breed, they're a Marans cross, so if they were sex linked due to the crossing then yes you don't keep that trait when breeding them to one another.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Yes. Barred males can pass barring on to either gender. Sex linkage works because the sex linked genes, in this case barring, are found on the Z chromosome. Males are ZZ, females are ZW. Males can only pass on a Z chromosome to theiroffspring. Females can only pass a W chromosome to female offspring.

If a barred female (ZW) is bred to a non-barred male (ZZ), then she will pass one copy of the barring gene on to each of her male offspring, who will inherit their other, non-barred, Z chromosome from the male (the male chicks from this mating will be ZZ). Since barring is dominant, the male chicks from this cross will be barred. The female offspring from this cross will inherit the (non-barred) W chromosome from the barred hen and their (non-barred) Z chromosome from the barred rooster (female chicks will be ZW).

If you breed the F1 chicks (ZZ and ZW) you will get both barred and non-barred chicks of BOTH genders (ZZ, ZW, ZZ, ZW) because the rooster can pass on either his Z chromosome with barring OR his non-barred Z chromosome to both male and female offspring.