Barred Rock mixes with male barring?

[MyMonsters91]

So everything I understand (limited) about the barring genes said that when the roo is Barred Rock and the hens another breed, the offspring (if they turn out barred) will have the barring coloring of the female Barred Rocks. That it takes 2 barred rock genes to make the male barring coloring.

HOWEVER, I have 2 mixes that have taken on the male barring coloring. Both from the same hen (Rhode Island Red) and roo (Barred Rock) so maybe her genes have something to do with it...the 3rd chick from this pair came out with the female BR coloring. I just find it curious. I 100% can't tell sex by the coloring, right? Just because they LOOK like a boy, doesn't mean they are?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

So everything I understand (limited) about the barring genes said that when the roo is Barred Rock and the hens another breed, the offspring (if they turn out barred) will have the barring coloring of the female Barred Rocks. That it takes 2 barred rock genes to make the male barring coloring.

HOWEVER, I have 2 mixes that have taken on the male barring coloring. Both from the same hen (Rhode Island Red) and roo (Barred Rock) so maybe her genes have something to do with it...the 3rd chick from this pair came out with the female BR coloring. I just find it curious. I 100% can't tell sex by the coloring, right? Just because they LOOK like a boy, doesn't mean they are?

You are a bit turned around on the sex linked issue - for sex linkage to work the hens are the barred bird and the solid is on the male side - resulting in barred male and unbarred female offspring. With it turned around you have the potential of both genders having barred or non-barred colorations.

 

[MyMonsters91]

You are a bit turned around on the sex linked issue - for sex linkage to work the hens are the barred bird and the solid is on the male side - resulting in barred male and unbarred female offspring. With it turned around you have the potential of both genders having barred or non-barred colorations.

I'm n ot asking about sex-linked. I know how that works, and the females will come off with no dot on the head and males will come out looking like a BR. I'm not asking about sex-linked.

With my Roo as my barred rock, all (or most) of my babies will have the Barred Rock look, with maybe a little bit of a variation. This I know. But my understanding of the barred gene is that they should all (whether male or female) have the darker barring, because it takes 2 barred rock genes to get the light roo look with high contrast and lots of white. This is true, for all my babies except the two I posted on top. All my mixes are darker like a hen BR looks, with dull barring and more black then white/gray of the roosters. HOWEVER, with these two mixes, they look like the gray/black/white of a typical Barred Rock rooster.. why? They shouldn't be able to with the genes, right? They should look like the rest of the barred mixes, with the darker variation. Like their flock sister here, from the same mom and rooster:

 

[donrae]

I see what you're saying. The top birds do look double barred, with all that white.

I've not bred a ton of birds with a barred father, but most of mine that were black ended up the classic single barred dark look. All the others had different base colors cause the father was himself a black sex link and the hens were a total mixed bag, so my barring was all over the place. But I never got a bird with the wider white bars like you have. It's interesting, and I'd love if you keep the thread updated with pics as they grow to see how they feather out, if they get the red leakage, etc. Cause I agree, they sure look like males

I'm guessing you're 100% positive the momma isn't a barred Rock? Just gotta ask.....

So I did find some old pics of single barred cockerels that have messy barring and an overall lighter look. I don't have any chick pics, sorry. These birds both happen to be cockerels, most of my pullets weren't black base color. I have no idea if this is an indicator of your chick's sex or not.

 

[MyMonsters91]

Positive they aren't from the barred rock moms They weren't even born around the time the BR babies were. Chipper was born at 11:25am and the closest BR baby that was born was at 4:20pm- and it was easy to keep their looks apart since my BR baby had a half black beak and dusty black legs while Chipper had orange feet and a little bit of black with an orange tip on her beak. I was very thorough with keeping them identified. Volvagia was born at 7:55 the next morning, and the closest BR to be born to her was... an hour later. But again, the BR and Volvagia had different features which were easy enough to keep them apart. Specifically, Volvagia had this cute diagonal black line on her beak - plus different feet colors. That BR that was born an hour later is definitely a boy, too. lol.

I'm hoping that just because they're colored with the double barred coloring, as you named it, doesn't mean they'll be definite boys! That's what I'm worried about the most. 2 of my BR babies are already boys, 2 of them girls (not sure one of the girls will make it, she's got a problem with her leg and it looks painful) and one of my odd balls that came out completely different color based is also an obvious boy, he's already getting a red comb and waddle at 2 weeks old. Too many already!

I'll definitely keep it updated. It'll be cool if I get some hens out of these 2 and they have the more white rooster look to them.

 

[MyMonsters91]

Well, update. These two Barred Rock mixes with male barring didn't just have the male color, they were indeed male. I've now rehomed them. Not very good odds so far from this batch. 4 possible girls (only 4 weeks, they can still disappoint me too!), 1 most likely boy, and 7 boys.. 3 that I've already rehomed, 1 more going out the door next, followed by it's brother as soon as it turns red.

 

[donrae]

Thanks for the update.

Sending pullet thoughts your way