Crossing a white leghorn (hen) with a brown leghorn (rooster)

[chickenmommymim]

Hi there!

We just recently had three chicks hatch after our brown leghorn rooster fertilized one of our white leghorn hens. I'm not finding a ton of information on the internet about these two being crossed, but I may be using the wrong search terms! I was just looking for answers to a few questions as this is our first time hatching our own chicks versus picking them up at the local tractor supply.

- is there a way to determine the sex of the chick by their coloring?

- has anyone had experience with crossing a white and brown leghorn? Is there any problem with having these two crossed?

- How do they look once fully grown?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Brown leghorn rooster over a white leghorn hen

- is there a way to determine the sex of the chick by their coloring?

I started to automatically say no but I thought of specific cases where it might be possible. Highly unlikely but possible. White is a pain to work with. Do you have photos of the chicks?

There are two basic ways to make a solid white chicken, dominant white on what would normally be a black chicken or recessive white with who knows what hiding under there. If it is dominant white on black, you will get yellow (eventually white) chicks so no, no sex links. If it is recessive white and the hen has Silver hiding under the recessive white, you might get red sex links. If barring is hiding under the recessive white and the mix of the other genes give you a normally solid dark colored chick, you might be able to see the spot so you could get black sex links.

I consider it extremely unlikely you will get sex links but I can’t 100% rule it out.

- has anyone had experience with crossing a white and brown leghorn? Is there any problem with having these two crossed?

I’ve never done it but there is no real problem based on the breeds as long as you are not going to show them. You should get leghorn type chickens that lay really well, just like their parents.

- How do they look once fully grown?

This is one that you have to hatch them to find out. It all depends on what is hiding under that white on your hens. They may be all white, all black, or something else.

 

[chickenmommymim]

Thanks for all of this great info!

Here's a picture of them. They're all yellow right now and only two days old. One of them has a light brown chipmunk stipe like the brown leghorns had when they were chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It will be interesting to see how they feather out. In theory those should be solid white but I get the feeling you’ll see a few feathers some other colors, probably brown. But still, mostly white.