Buff Orpington Rooster and Dominique Hen Chicks - Can They Be Sexed By Color?

[MKK]

I incubated and hatched 4 eggs (BO x Dominique) and 3 came out almost identical with light yellow faces and light grey bellies, and barring I THINK on the tops of their heads. One came out with a similar body color but a brown face and no barring at all on the head- wings seem to be longer too.

I’m wondering if the identical 3 are possibly roosters? I’ve attached pics. They’re super cute.

 

[Yardmom]

Yes three boys and a girl. With mom barred, it is the sons that will be barred.

 

[MKK]

Yes three boys and a girl. With mom barred, it is the sons that will be barred.

Thank you so much! I was told that I can’t rely on markings because they’re a mixed breed, but I felt like that might be wrong.

 

[Yardmom]

In order create sex links you need two breeds or at least two specific color varieties.

 

[MKK]

I incubated and hatched 4 eggs (BO x Dominique) and 3 came out almost identical with light yellow faces and light grey bellies, and barring I THINK on the tops of their heads. One came out with a similar body color but a brown face and no barring at all on the head- wings seem to be longer too.

I’m wondering if the identical 3 are possibly roosters? I’ve attached pics. They’re super cute.
View attachment 4110671View attachment 4110663View attachment 4110666

Thank you so much! I was told that I can’t rely on markings because they’re a mixed breed, but I felt like that might be wrong.

Just wanted to update on this. Chicks are 7.5 weeks old and the Roosters are so pretty. These are the sweetest chickens I’ve

I incubated and hatched 4 eggs (BO x Dominique) and 3 came out almost identical with light yellow faces and light grey bellies, and barring I THINK on the tops of their heads. One came out with a similar body color but a brown face and no barring at all on the head- wings seem to be longer too.

I’m wondering if the identical 3 are possibly roosters? I’ve attached pics. They’re super cute.
View attachment 4110671View attachment 4110663View attachment 4110666

Just wanted to update this! These are the sweetest chickens we’ve ever had- both hens and roosters. These are BO rooster x Dominique hen mixes and I’m in love. I hatched one more brown female. They’re the best. Here they are at 7.5 weeks. I gave one roo and one hen away. One rooster has a pea comb like an Orpington and the other has a rose comb like a Dominique.

I’m obsessed

 

[AinaWGSD]

They are super cute!

Assuming the buff orpington was the rooster and the dominique was the hen. Looks like you may have sex links in two ways here!

A non-barred rooster over a barred hen gives sexlinked offspring because the barring gene is only found on the male sex chromosome. Male birds are ZZ, females are ZW (opposite of mammals, where females are XX and males are XY). So barred males would be ZZ and barred females would be ZW. If bred to a non-barred male the hen can only produce barred sons because she will only pass her W to her daughters, the only chicks that will inherit a barred Z chromosome will be male. So ZZ (a non-barred rooster) over ZW (a barred hen) will give you ZZ and ZW chicks, barred males with one non-barred Z chromosome from the rooster and one barred Z chromosome from the hen and non-barred females with one non-barred Z chromosome from the rooster and one non-barred W chromosome from the hen. You can tell the gender at hatch because barred birds will have a white or yellow spot on their head.

They also appear to be silver/gold sex links. Silver, like barring, is a dominant gene that is only found on the Z chromosome that changes red (gold/buff) to white. So a gold rooster (in this case buff) over a silver hen will result in silver males, with one copy of silver and one copy of gold, and gold females.

 

[MKK]

They are super cute!

Assuming the buff orpington was the rooster and the dominique was the hen. Looks like you may have sex links in two ways here!

A non-barred rooster over a barred hen gives sexlinked offspring because the barring gene is only found on the male sex chromosome. Male birds are ZZ, females are ZW (opposite of mammals, where females are XX and males are XY). So barred males would be ZZ and barred females would be ZW. If bred to a non-barred male the hen can only produce barred sons because she will only pass her W to her daughters, the only chicks that will inherit a barred Z chromosome will be male. So ZZ (a non-barred rooster) over ZW (a barred hen) will give you ZZ and ZW chicks, barred males with one non-barred Z chromosome from the rooster and one barred Z chromosome from the hen and non-barred females with one non-barred Z chromosome from the rooster and one non-barred W chromosome from the hen. You can tell the gender at hatch because barred birds will have a white or yellow spot on their head.

They also appear to be silver/gold sex links. Silver, like barring, is a dominant gene that is only found on the Z chromosome that changes red (gold/buff) to white. So a gold rooster (in this case buff) over a silver hen will result in silver males, with one copy of silver and one copy of gold, and gold females.

Thank you so much!! I actually really appreciate this information a lot.