Bantam Maturity Question

[ChickenChick46]

You can get autosexing bantams in some colors (if the breeder keeps records and knows what they are doing!!)

I mostly just know that you can find them in silkies - which come in practically every color! Sex linked chocolates are available for silkies. A chocolate roo over black hens yields black (carrying chocolate) cockerels, and chocolate pullets. (Same for mauve and the chocolate variation of splash.) Cuckoo is another pattern that is sex linked. If you breed a solid male to cuckoo hens, the males will have a head spot at hatch. If you breed a double barred cuckoo male to cuckoo hens, the males will be double barred and lighter at hatch, and the females will be single barred.

There are also ways to make sex links using the silver gene and I believe leg shank colors. I don’t know much about them… but it IS possible to have sex linked or autosexing bantams. However not many people are breeding a lot of these and selling them because many breeders dont like to mass cull their male chicks like they do at hatcheries. And banty males cant really be grown out to use for food like the larger boys can.

Thank you for this, it's so interesting! I am fascinated by chicken genetics. I'm starting with BBS because I think it'll be a fun and easier way to start getting it figured out with breeding my own birds. I am currently looking for a good book on chicken genetics as well. I've read a lot of online stuff, but I like having an actual print copy of a book in my hands.

 

[redinator]

Great advice. I know at our local TSC, the other day, there were 3 breeds in one bin. The lady working there was incredibly knowledgeable and wouldn't have messed up and grabbed the wrong breed. But, I can easily see someone who doesn't know much about chickens, selling them to someone else who doesn't know much about chickens, and a mix-up occurring. And that's presuming they were put in the correctly labeled bins to begin with, which is a whole other issue.

I did end up with Gold Laced Wyandottes rather than the Blue Laced like the label said on the bin. I went in looking for Silver Laced Wyandottes, since I've read they can be used with RIR cockerel to make sex links. I came out with a few chicks from each bin, but no Silver Laced . . . go figure, lol.

 

[redinator]

Thank you for this, it's so interesting! I am fascinated by chicken genetics. I'm starting with BBS because I think it'll be a fun and easier way to start getting it figured out with breeding my own birds. I am currently looking for a good book on chicken genetics as well. I've read a lot of online stuff, but I like having an actual print copy of a book in my hands.

Earmark, highlight, notes in the margins . . . I get it, my son (23) rolls his eyes and says you can do that all on the computer, lol.

 

[redinator]

Ate you

Are you gonna do that research or should I?

@Slothinc already had the info downloaded, lol.

 

[NatJ]

This makes me wonder if there are auto sexing breeds of bantams . . .?

Crele Old English Game Bantams should be pretty much autosexing.

Barred or Cuckoo of any breed would be about as sexable as Barred Rocks or Dominiques (mostly sexable by color).

You definitely can do sexlinks with bantams. Gold/silver or barred/not-barred would work the same as they do in larger chickens.

Some years ago, I noticed one hatchery started offering sexed bantams of certain breeds only: pretty much the ones where sexlinks or autosexing are possible. (For example, Buff Brahma rooster x Light Brahma hen will give buff daughters and silver-carries-gold sons. So the pullets can be sold as sexed Buff Brahmas.)

One of the easiest, if a hatchery wanted to, would be sexlinked Easter Egger bantams, because there are no color standards for them and because a flock often contains a variety of colors anyway. Just pick through the possible breeders for the right male and female colors, and hatch color-sexable chicks the next year. Raise two small breeder flocks to get the ones you'll breed from in future years.

 

[redinator]

Crele Old English Game Bantams should be pretty much autosexing.

Barred or Cuckoo of any breed would be about as sexable as Barred Rocks or Dominiques (mostly sexable by color).

You definitely can do sexlinks with bantams. Gold/silver or barred/not-barred would work the same as they do in larger chickens.

Some years ago, I noticed one hatchery started offering sexed bantams of certain breeds only: pretty much the ones where sexlinks or autosexing are possible. (For example, Buff Brahma rooster x Light Brahma hen will give buff daughters and silver-carries-gold sons. So the pullets can be sold as sexed Buff Brahmas.)

One of the easiest, if a hatchery wanted to, would be sexlinked Easter Egger bantams, because there are no color standards for them and because a flock often contains a variety of colors anyway. Just pick through the possible breeders for the right male and female colors, and hatch color-sexable chicks the next year. Raise two small breeder flocks to get the ones you'll breed from in future years.

What I'm hearing is . . I need more chickens, lol.

 

[redinator]

In my defense: those cute gray/ blue chicks all looked very similar that day, and were a breed I'd never seen before. As their feathers came in, it was obvious that there were differences, and all are still really cute, and at least are all pullets.
Unlike the five chicks I bought two days earlier, at a different TSC, three males out of that pullet bin, but all breeds as advertised. Fun!
Mary

I did get what were supposed to 3 Cinnamon Queens (red sex-links) which two turned out to be (Edit: some breed of Game bantam) the flightiest and feral little chicks I've come across.

It just so happened I got chicks from the bantam bin as well, but if I only planned on having standards I would've been livid.

A friend took some quick pictures since they were at a TSC closer to his house. I didn't realize the mix up until I picked them up from him a few days later.

 

[ChickenChick46]

@Slothinc already had the info downloaded, lol.

Yes! One of many reasons to love this site. So many knowledgeable people.

 

[ChickenChick46]

I did end up with Gold Laced Wyandottes rather than the Blue Laced like the label said on the bin. I went in looking for Silver Laced Wyandottes, since I've read they can be used with RIR cockerel to make sex links. I came out with a few chicks from each bin, but no Silver Laced . . . go figure, lol.

That figures. That would be my luck!

 

[ChickenChick46]

Crele Old English Game Bantams should be pretty much autosexing.

Barred or Cuckoo of any breed would be about as sexable as Barred Rocks or Dominiques (mostly sexable by color).

You definitely can do sexlinks with bantams. Gold/silver or barred/not-barred would work the same as they do in larger chickens.

Some years ago, I noticed one hatchery started offering sexed bantams of certain breeds only: pretty much the ones where sexlinks or autosexing are possible. (For example, Buff Brahma rooster x Light Brahma hen will give buff daughters and silver-carries-gold sons. So the pullets can be sold as sexed Buff Brahmas.)

One of the easiest, if a hatchery wanted to, would be sexlinked Easter Egger bantams, because there are no color standards for them and because a flock often contains a variety of colors anyway. Just pick through the possible breeders for the right male and female colors, and hatch color-sexable chicks the next year. Raise two small breeder flocks to get the ones you'll breed from in future years.

I have so much to learn!