Breeding RSL

[msrma7670]

From other research that I have done I understand that sex-linked chickens do not breed true. I also understand that you should not try to breed a male RSL to anything because you will not get too many desirable traits.

My question is:

1.) I have several RSL hens and a RIR male. Will that produce off spring that are good for meat and eggs and are genetically closer to the RIR strain? or will they be useless?

2.) If I take the love chicks (hen) from the above pairing and breed them back with a RIR ROO will I get the RSL again? Or should I breed a Roo from them to a White Rock and get a better RSL?

THANKS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[speckledhen]

If you breed a RSL to anything, you will never get another sexlink, is all I know. The cross will probably lay fine, but as far as a meat bird, I'm not sure about that.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

from the various sources i've read, to get a true red-sex link you need to pair a rir roo on a white leghorn. subsequent generations of sex links will not reproduce more sex links, just red and white mutts. If you were to breed one of those sex links with a rir roo, the off spring will be more RIR and less white leghorn.

red sex link = 50% rir & 50% white leghorn
red sex link + rir = 75% rir & 25% white leghorn

future generations will be less an less leghorn; they'll eat more, grow larger and have more of the rir characteristics. the purpouse of the red sex link is the easy sexing part, you can cull the un needed roo's right off the bat saving food for the layers.

 

[Pine Grove]

I have both the Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites, crossing these makes a RSL, When the RSL hens are mated back to the RIR male both sexes came pretty much RIR with the males haveing one or two white tail feathers, Egg production and size were the same, if anything the RIR/RSL seemed to grow faster.Not sure though how it would work with your particular strain, But if you dont want any specific color I'd say go for it

 

[msrma7670]

thank ya but if anyone knows where a good place to get more info on genetics and breeding for certain things let me know.

 

[patandchickens]

Just want to point out that 'sex link' is being used in two different (although each perfectly legitimate) ways here. It's confused a few other breeding threads too...

Firstly there are chickens carrying sexlinked color traits such that the resulting chicks are easily sexable at hatch by color or markings. There are multiple ways of doing this -- without looking it up (I have a baby on lap and only one hand free for compuetr

) I *think* that a red roo on a white or barred hen are two examples of this type situation. This usage of 'sex link' is speaking ONLY about color, has nothing necessarily to do w/ the birds' laying capacities etc and can exist when crossing any number of breeds.

OTOH there is 'se link' used to describe a set of particular breeds of chicken (RSL, BSL, ISA Brown, Shaver, etc). In this case, the chickens in question were not only created from a mating such as described above (with particular different-color parents producing chicks sexable at hatching by their colors/markings) BUT ALSO those parents came from particular lines/breeds that make the offspring particularly good layers etc.

The first meaning of the term is the more inclusive one. Just because you cross a roo and hen whose colors are such that the male vs female chicks look different does not, in itself, produce anything like a good production brrown layer... for that it depends on more than just the parents' colors.

Hope this may help avoid some confusion,

Pat