Bielefelder Cross Question - Autsexing gene with barred hens?

[SwampChicks]

How does your Bielefelder x Cream Legbar chicken turn out? Any photos from the cross?

I second this.

Myself, I would like to attempt this cross but am interested in how it turns out before I do it. Someone else be the guinea pig lol.

 

[jbkirk]

You should ask the people on here https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/727364/a-bielefelder-thread/1070

 

[speedy2020]

I second this.

Myself, I would like to attempt this cross but am interested in how it turns out before I do it. Someone else be the guinea pig lol.

One of my Cream Legbar laying her 1st egg today. The Bielefelder male isn't old enough. I expect to breed some cross this summer as I don't have any Bielefelder hen .

 

[jbkirk]

One of my Cream Legbar laying her 1st egg today. The Bielefelder male isn't old enough. I expect to breed some cross this summer as I don't have any Bielefelder hen .

You won't get a bielefelder hen if you cross them. You'll get a mutt.

 

[jbkirk]

Sorry my computer is having problems

 

[otakalhasas]

I know this is an old thread, but since I'm planning on doing a cross, I thought I'd just throw in my two cents worth.

The term "mutt" is truly a relative word. The term "cross" is much more specific, as that is what you are doing when you breed two different breeds together. As an AKC dog show judge, I can assure you that many, many of our popular breeds were created by "crossing" other breeds and selecting particular traits to carry on. The Bulldog, the French Bulldog, and the Boston Terrier are all very closely related. Are they mutts? Of course not, they breed true. But many generations back, the Frenchie and the Boston could be considered "mutts" but in truth they were a work in progress in developing a new breed.

Take the Labradoodle (not an AKC breed, but they breed true) - a specific blend of Labrador Retriever and Poodle (in all three varieties) originally bred as a hypoallergenic service dog. The size differences coming from the Poodle were an added benefit as there are many disabilities that do not require size to do their work. Could a "mutt" also serve as a service dog? Absolutely, but why stamp the animal with a derogatory name? I think a "terrier mix" or "shepherd mix" is more respectful.

I'd like to regard "crosses" of chickens in the same way. To me they are not "mutts" (unless they are simply "barnyard mixes" with no specific idea in mind of what you want to accomplish with the conformation of the bird or the egg, then they are simply just that - "barnyard mixes"). To me, they are an experiment in developing a new breed. The two crosses I have in mind are Biels/CL and Biels/BCM. What do I hope to accomplish? Keeping the docile, friendly temperament of the Biels, hopefully with autosexing and with the resulting eggs being jumbo dark brown (with the BCM) or jumbo mint green (with the CL).

Will it work? Only time will tell, but I will never consider the chicks "mutts"!

 

[Outta Here]

Autosexing involves the barred gene and the wild-type gene, so it depends what the hen is. It might take several generations of back crossing to get the autosexing back. The only cross that will reliably give autsexing chicks in the first generation is a hen from a breed that is also autosexing, like a rhodebar or legbar.

The genes carried by your roos are not especially rare, a barred rock rooster is just as useful for creating an autosexing line.

Can you tell me which breeds you would use to cross a barred rock rooster to create an autosexing line? And what would it be called? (I mean other than the subtle autosexing of the Barred Rock chicks themselves.) And what would it be called?