Barred Genes and Crossing

[John Roth]

So I have a Barred Rock rooster and crossed him with leghorns and EEs. Obviously the young are also barred as I have seen them grow. But if I kept one of the male barred crosses and bred him with another breed. Would that offspring also have the barred feathers or would their be a mixture?

 

[donrae]

A purebred barred rooster has two copies of the barring gene. One copy goes to each of his offspring, regardless of gender. that's pretty much what you found, you get all black barred chicks.

Those first generation cockerels only have one copy of the barring gene, so they only pass it to 50% of their offspring, regardless of gender. I had such a rooster as my main guy for years and found the barring also tended to get very muddy or faint when I crossed him to non-barred hens....here are some cockerels





and some pullets

 

[junebuggena]

Barred roosters produce barred chicks. A barred hen will produce barred males and non barred females.

 

[John Roth]

Thanks for all the help. I can't wait to experiment!

 

[lauren212]

I know this is an old post but what is the chicken in your 4th picture. I have this 6 week old chick and don’t know what it is. I see the baring but it also has rust coloured feathers. Was told the dad was a partridge Chantecler but it might not be since they came from a rescue farm.

A purebred barred rooster has two copies of the barring gene. One copy goes to each of his offspring, regardless of gender. that's pretty much what you found, you get all black barred chicks.

Those first generation cockerels only have one copy of the barring gene, so they only pass it to 50% of their offspring, regardless of gender. I had such a rooster as my main guy for years and found the barring also tended to get very muddy or faint when I crossed him to non-barred hens....here are some cockerels





and some pullets