Black legs

[ladyj]

My Barnvelder roo bred to my barred rock hen. Good thing. But now I have solid black chicks with black legs. Do I have someone who is not pure or is this a fluke. Not great on genetics so need help. TIA.

 

[redranger209]

@JedJackson

 

[JedJackson]

My Barnvelder roo bred to my barred rock hen. Good thing. But now I have solid black chicks with black legs. Do I have someone who is not pure or is this a fluke. Not great on genetics so need help. TIA.

No, the genetics are right. You basically have black sex links. The female chicks will probably show some red leakage in the black when they feather out, and the males will have barring.

* I should add that black sex link females and the males as chicks have black legs despite the fact that the fathers (production red) and mothers (barred rocks) both have yellow legs. I am not sure why this is but someone in here can probably explain it. The main thing I wanted to get across is that it's quite possibly that you would get chicks like this with genetically sound parents of those breeds.

 

[ladyj]

Father is a Barnvelder. Not a barred rock. Mother is barred rock.

 

[JedJackson]

Father is a Barnvelder. Not a barred rock. Mother is barred rock.

Yep, exactly. The father has the red gene, the mother has the silver gene and is barred. That's how black sex links are made. The reason being that a barred rock female only has one copy of the barring gene, and when she's crossed with any non-barred male with red in his genetic make up, the chicks will be sex linked-- boys should have small spots on the tops of their heads and will feather out with a barred pattern. Female chicks will be black with no spot on the head, and will feather out black with red leakage and no barring. And they will have dark legs, even though both parents had yellow legs.

The reverse cross wouldn't work because barred males carry two copies of the barring gene, which is why they are so much lighter in color than the females. The chicks from a barred rock male over a Barnevelder female wouldn't be sexable as chicks and you would have to wait for comb development, etc., to sex them.

 

[ladyj]

Thanks. Genetics still confuse me. But hey that is what learning is all about.