Black Copper x barred/cuckoo = ??

[ccshambhala]

Last year I had one hen hatch 26 "barnyard mix" (from our flock) eggs. A lot of the roosters were birchen looking and some had beautiful red - but nearly all the hens were black. This year we had two hens hatch out babies - and again what isn't mottled looks like it will be mostly black. I love barred/cuckoo birds and acquired a barred olive egger this year and a blue barred olive egger. Planning for next year I was thinking of putting my BC Marans rooster in with the barred olive egger, the blue barred olive egger & maybe a cream legbar hen and even a barred rock to hatch out some more specific mixes. What do you think I would end up with from these crosses?

BC Marans roo x Barred Olive Egger
BC Marans Roo x Blue barred olive egger
BC Marans Roo x Barred Rock
BC Marans Roo x Cream Legbar

These would just be for my personal flock. I was hoping the marans x olive egger would give me a deeper olive egg. I was hoping the marans x barred rock would give the next generation a darker brown egg. I was hoping marans roo x cream legbar would give me larger eggs with more color.

I love barred/cuckoo birds and really love the golden cuckoos and crele. What color birds do you think I'd end up with?

many thanks....

 

[donrae]

All the crosses you're talking about should make sex link chicks. Your roosters will be barred or cuckoo, and the hens will be solid colored. If you want more barred birds, use a barred rooster, they pass on barring to all their offspring. barred hens only pass it on to their male offspring.

 

[ccshambhala]

thank you so much! Do you think all the pullets from this cross will be primarily black then? The last thing I need is another rooster lol. I had heard barring was dominant - now I know why that wasn't true in my case .... all of the eggs from barred chickens previously must have turned out to be pullets....

 

[ccshambhala]

Would a cream legbar rooster still produce all barred chicks or is their barring different since it is all different colors? (and not as clean/even)

 

[donrae]

You're working mostly with black based birds, so I think you'd get mostly black based offspring. Sounds like you need to put some red or something in there for what you're looking for!

I don't know much about he cream legbars, I don't know if the roosters have two barring genes like the barred rocks, but I think they do. You might want to check with the folks on the legbar thread to be sure, but I think a legbar roo over a solid hen would give all barred offspring, not sex linked. The legbars aren't black based so that might give you more of the colors you're looking for, also.