Calling all color genetic experts!!! :)

[Cowgirl71]

I've heard of people making Blue Sexlinks by crossing a blue rooster with Barred Rock hens. The chicks from this cross sound so pretty! However I'm not willing to sacrifice egg production by getting a blue rooster of a poor laying breed (such as Andalusion, Cochin, etc.).

I'm wondering if this Easter Egger rooster would work for making Blue Sexlinks with Barred Rock hens? I have about 18 EE roosters to choose from, but this one has the most blue. What do you all think? He's darker-colored in person, BTW. The camera washed some of his colors out.

(He's 10 weeks old in the pics)

ETA: It was windy when I took the pics.

 

[farmerChef]

the only down side I could think of would be is that you wouldn't get just blue and barred, you would also get splash and black, it would be hard to tell the difference in a barred splash and a non-barred one early on.
Aren't you (basically) breeding blue to black? Or am I thinking wrong?
It's a cool idea

 

[smoothmule]

It will work. The blue would be the solid rooster, then the hen is barred so all the barred will be cockerels and the solids will be pullets. Blue bred to black makes half blacks and half blues but the solid blues and blacks will be pullets and the barred blues and blacks will be cockerels

 

[Cowgirl71]

Quote:
That was the other thing I was going to ask. I hear about blue sexlinks, but I never hear about the chicks that inherit a splash gene? I know that black x barred equals black sexlinks, but I don't know what splash x barred equals? Would these still be Blue Sexlinks? If you cross a blue rooster with barred hens will you get all blue sexlinks, or some blue, some black, and some... splash?

 

[farmerChef]

Quote:
Ok. I always get mixed up on the breeding blue to splash to black, etc.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

The hens of the cross would look similar to this cockerel, blue with a lot of leakage. The roos would be cuckoo, probably some blue barred, some black barred, probably both kind of muddy colored with leakage.

Is this a particularly good laying line of EEs? I generally dont find myself thinking "star performer" when I think about EEs, but I guess some are pretty good.

 

[phasianidae]

All will be sexlinks, half will be blue sexlinks and half will be black sexlinks. To get 100% blue sexlinks you would need a splash rooster or splash barred hen.

 

[Cowgirl71]

Thanks for all the info!

Yes, this is a good production line of EEs. Cackle Hatchery breeds for high production. My neighbor has 11 hens and a rooster, and he was getting 9-11 eggs daily through the winter!

Each hatchery has their own recipe for making Easter Eggers. Some have crappy layers, others have excellent layers. Cackle, My Pet Chicken, and Ideal all have very good laying strains of Easter Eggers. McMurray has a horrible strain, as far as egg production goes. All three of mine from McMurray quit laying in September (they began molting), didn't lay during the short daylight hours, and then finally started back up again in January.

I've heard others complaining about their McMurray's EE's production too...


But anyway, does my rooster look like he'll pass on 50% blue/50% black? I'm just double-checking, because he does have red on him, and he IS an Easter Egger, aka not a purebred of any kind, LOL.

 

[tadkerson]

Quote:
Male EE X barred rock female= Males 50% blue barred and 50% black barred
Females 50% blue and 50 % black

The offspring will most likely leak some red in the adult plumage. How much I do not know- It depends on the genetics of the rooster.



Tim

 

[Cowgirl71]

Quote:
Thanks!