Cream Legabar Delaware Cross Results??

[Ari_m]

I just got this Delaware rooster and plan to hatch chicks out of him later this summer or next spring. One cross in particular I’d like to try out is my cream legbar hen. She lays a nice blue egg, is a very productive layer, good size, and has an all-around great disposition for free ranging. From what I could gather, I should be able to sex the chicks at hatch since both have the barring gene. And the hens should lay a greenish egg? I don’t know what color egg the rooster came out of, but it should be an average brown egg color. Can anyone confirm this- and would all the hens lay the same egg color? What colors should they be at hatch, and at maturity? Will they all be crested?

Sorry about all the questions, but I’m just curious! I’d like to know so I can decide how many eggs I’ll incubate from this hen. She is also from a reputable local breeder with good breeding stock- and the only other breed on her farm is Marans, so no possibility of mixed blood.

I was also planning to just separate the males and raise them for meat- I know they won’t be very substantial, but it’s good enough for my needs. Hopefully the roo’s genetics will help their growth and size, so they’ll be a little better than pure legbars. I’m happy with the possibility of knowing who’s male and female immediately and getting to avoid the guessing game. I’ve also heard that cream legbar meat is very nicely flavored and tender - it’d be interesting to try out.

Photos are for reference

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Yes, all chicks will be barred. They’ll likely look pretty similar to Delawares, though with extra patterning from the legbar. Red leakage is also possible. They’ll lay green eggs. You’ll probably get crested and uncrested chicks.

 

[Ari_m]

Yes, all chicks will be barred. They’ll likely look pretty similar to Delawares, though with extra patterning from the legbar. Red leakage is also possible. They’ll lay green eggs. You’ll probably get crested and uncrested chicks.

Ok, Thanks! Do you think they would be able to be sexed by color or pattern at hatch since they both have barring genes?

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Ok, Thanks! Do you think they would be able to be sexed by color or pattern at hatch since they both have barring genes?

Probably not at hatch, since the chicks will be silver, meaning they’ll be mostly white. You may not be able to see the headspot.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

From what I could gather, I should be able to sex the chicks at hatch since both have the barring gene.

Only purebred autosexing breeds can be sexed that way. This cross will not be autosexing.

And the hens should lay a greenish egg?

They should lay a teal or light green egg. I wouldn't expect dark or vivid green eggs out of this cross.

would all the hens lay the same egg color?

You'll probably get some varying shades, though I'd expect the colors to be pretty similar.

Will they all be crested?

Your hen appears double crested, so each chick out of this cross should have a small crest.

 

[Yardmom]

I have a couple of Delaware hens. The male chicks crossed with my mixed bread roo made good meat birds.

 

[1muttsfan]

Only purebred autosexing breeds can be sexed that way. This cross will not be autosexing.

That is not strictly true. Purebred autosexing breeds can be sexed as chicks, but so can sex-link crosses such as black sex links, which are a cross between a RIR rooster and a BR hen.

I had a Delaware x Arkansas Blue hen a few years back. Her eggs were light greenish. She was a big solid blue girl with a bad attitude, very bossy and bit quite hard. as an adult she had the columbian pattern, but on a blue background.

Since Delawares are Columbian and the barring is limited, even though technically you can do a sex-link cross, they are hard to sex early.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

That is not strictly true. Purebred autosexing breeds can be sexed as chicks, but so can sex-link crosses such as black sex links, which are a cross between a RIR rooster and a BR hen.

I had a Delaware x Arkansas Blue hen a few years back. Her eggs were light greenish. She was a big solid blue girl with a bad attitude, very bossy and bit quite hard. as an adult she had the columbian pattern, but on a blue background.

Since Delawares are Columbian and the barring is limited, even though technically you can do a sex-link cross, they are hard to sex early.

Sex linked is not the same as autosexing. Autosexing breeds are the only breeds that can be sexed when both genders are pure for barring. OP asked if the chicks could be sexed because they were pure for barring. That would be autosexing, not sex linking (thus I didn't mention sex linking in my reply--it wasn't relevant). Either way, the chicks from this cross will be neither autosexing or sex linked.

 

[1muttsfan]

Yes as I said in my post above - sex link is different from autosexing, as there are more than one breed involved. Any cross between breeds that results in sexable offspring is sex linked. Why do you say that crossing two barred breeds would not be a sex linked cross? If the males are double barred and the females are single, seems like the same rule would apply, although sexing by barring pattern alone is not super reliable.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

Any cross between breeds that results in sexable offspring is sex linked.

Yes--sexable at hatch, which these chicks will not be.

Why do you say that crossing two barred breeds would not be a sex linked cross?

Because it isn't a sex linked cross. With a sex linked cross, you take a rooster with a recessive sex linked gene (such as not-barred or gold) and put him over a hen with a dominant sex linked gene (such as barred or silver). Pullets from the cross inherit the recessive gene from the dad, while cockerels get the dominant gene from their mother and the recessive gene from their father (thus exhibiting the dominant coloring). This allows the chicks to be sexed at hatch.

Barred x barred isn't a sex linked cross because it does not produce sex-linked chicks (meaning you can tell them apart at hatch) that have different sex-linked alleles. Cockerels and pullets still have the same allele of a sex linked gene, but cockerels just have two. Sex-linked cockerels and pullets have different alleles of sex-linked gene, and that sets them apart from a barred x barred cross.