Barred Rock Hen x Blue Ameraucana Roo

[atm21]

I recently hatched chicks out of two barred rock hens and 1 barred EE (barred rock father). The eggs were very similar in color so I’m not sure which ones are which.

 

[LilJoe]

I doubt there's a way to tell.... (BTW the ones with white spots on head are male)

 

[sylviethecochin]

I doubt there's a way to tell.... (BTW the ones with white spots on head are male)

It sounds to me as though the father is barred as well. Which would mean that the ones without headspots are female, but the ones with head spots are not necessarily male.

EDT. Oops. Misread post. you are correct. sorry. (EDT'd again, because you cannot use colons around here without getting emojis.)

 

[atm21]

I heard about the headspot thing which is really awesome. The father of these chicks is a blue Ameraucana I didn’t make that clear in my description, my apologies. So I’d assume the headspot trick would work for the chicks out of the barred rock hens. But the chicks out of the barred EE hen (EE hen x barred rock rooster) I’m not sure if that would work bc she’s a cross not a full barred rock (if that’s important) if it is not sure how to tell them apart lol.

 

[sylviethecochin]

It would still work for her because she is barred. Hens can only carry one copy of the barring gene. If she's barred, she's got the same sex-linked characteristics as any purebred barred hen.

It's a different matter for roosters. They can carry two copies. If you had a half-breed rooster, he would be darker colored than a purebreed rooster, because he would only carry one copy of the barring gene.

I can't imagine there's any way for you to tell the chicks apart, since you're crossing with an Ameraucana anyway. Muff, beard, peacomb... not really going to help you out.

 

[atm21]

It would still work for her because she is barred. Hens can only carry one copy of the barring gene. If she's barred, she's got the same sex-linked characteristics as any purebred barred hen.

It's a different matter for roosters. They can carry two copies. If you had a half-breed rooster, he would be darker colored than a purebreed rooster, because he would only carry one copy of the barring gene.

I can't imagine there's any way for you to tell the chicks apart, since you're crossing with an Ameraucana anyway. Muff, beard, peacomb... not really going to help you out.

Oh ok awesome thank you! I didn’t realize it was a one gene situation where if present on the hen, would mean that it works. I thought it was more of a purebred thing.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Oh ok awesome thank you! I didn’t realize it was a one gene situation where if present on the hen, would mean that it works. I thought it was more of a purebred thing.

Sexlinked genes: Hen carries one copy, rooster carries two of any sexlinked gene.

Chromosomes are packaged DNA, or genes. Hens have one W, one Z (WZ) sex chromosome, and roosters have two Z sex chromosomes (ZZ.) Z is longer than W and holds more genes.

Barring is one of the genes on the Z chromosome. It's not on the W chromosome,

Hens, therefore, have only one copy of barring (only one Z.) When she passes her W onto offspring, it makes pullets, and they don't have barring because they can't inherit it on the W chromosome. The pullets can only have barring if the rooster's Z chromosome has the gene for barring.

Make sense?

 

[atm21]

Sexlinked genes: Hen carries one copy, rooster carries two of any sexlinked gene.

Chromosomes are packaged DNA, or genes. Hens have one W, one Z (WZ) sex chromosome, and roosters have two Z sex chromosomes (ZZ.) Z is longer than W and holds more genes.

Barring is one of the genes on the Z chromosome. It's not on the W chromosome,

Hens, therefore, have only one copy of barring (only one Z.) When she passes her W onto offspring, it makes pullets, and they don't have barring because they can't inherit it on the W chromosome. The pullets can only have barring if the rooster's Z chromosome has the gene for barring.

Make sense?

YES! Thank you so much! This is so interesting. Would this work with any barred breed? For instance a golden cuckoo maran to the same rooster?

 

[sylviethecochin]

YES! Thank you so much! This is so interesting. Would this work with any barred breed? For instance a golden cuckoo maran to the same rooster?

Yep.

Other sex-linked genes are gold/silver, fast/slow feathering, and chocolate.

I want a chocolate hen. Someday, i will have one.

 

[Ladybird CA]

Sexlinked genes: Hen carries one copy, rooster carries two of any sexlinked gene.

Chromosomes are packaged DNA, or genes. Hens have one W, one Z (WZ) sex chromosome, and roosters have two Z sex chromosomes (ZZ.) Z is longer than W and holds more genes.

Barring is one of the genes on the Z chromosome. It's not on the W chromosome,

Hens, therefore, have only one copy of barring (only one Z.) When she passes her W onto offspring, it makes pullets, and they don't have barring because they can't inherit it on the W chromosome. The pullets can only have barring if the rooster's Z chromosome has the gene for barring.

Make sense?

So if the rooster doesn’t look barred but carries the barred gene, is a barred pullet possible?