So if you wanted to create one of these and you had a barred rock rooster, what color Americauna or EE would you put your rooster with? And would you want to do it this way or should you start with an Americauna or EE roo over a barred hen?
If you want them all barred or cuckoo, you'd have a BR roo over Ameraucana hen. That way you can be pretty well assured the daughters will lay green eggs since Amer lay blue and BRs brown. If you have an EE, the egg color may not be as certain. If you did EE over BR hen you would get barred males and mostly solid females, however I got a couple of spangled sisters, now owned by rooster-red, from an EE roo over BR hen.
If you want the possibility of a blue barred, you need to start with a blue (or splash?) hen to go with the BR roo. You can still get black barred, too, since blue is genetically black anyway.
Thanks! That is good news. I just want the black barred. I have a nice barred roo and a black Ameraucana. I think I will try them together. They were each a hatch of 1 so it will be nice to have something to use them for.
These are all Cuckoo Marans Roo over Blue Amer hens. The first is a single combed, the only one of alot of hatches. Of course, she lays a brown egg.
The Barred hens are all laying olive eggs, some different color olive, one with brown speckles.
I suspect one of them may be laying a brown egg, but I havent separated her out yet.
I would try and use Ameraucanas and not EEs b/c then you have the mix of EE genes to work with while trying to make an OE. I think there is some logic in using a Amer Roo over a barred hen b/c then you have a sex link and you know right away. I have had tons of people who want these, so its nice to know you are giving them pullets before you feed them forever and get attached to make sure they are girls.
However, there is nothing as pretty as bearded, barred, Olive Eggers.
I have some eggs from my barred rock hens and Black or Blue Ameraucana rooster if anyone is interested. I will sell them for a good price. We just eat them here.
i dug up this thread because im about to buy some Black Amer Roo x BR Hens and i had a couple of questions because i wasnt completely sure after reading this thread
will i get any barred hens out of that cross?
and will they have beards and muffs or will they have wattles?
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You will not get any barred hens. The pullets should all be black, and the cockerels should all be barred. They should be sex linked and you can tell at hatch.
The beards and muffs are hard to predict, but you should get some with them.
Assuming the Roo is pure Ameraucana they should all have pea combs and lay green eggs.
To get barred pullets, you need to use a barred rooster.