Crossing Barred rock rooster and sex link hens

[FancyFarmQ]

I have eggs in the icubator from my super sweet feed store mutt chickens! What am I going to get??? Barred rock rooster with black sex link hens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In general, you will get black barred chicks, much like your rooster. When they mature they will be a little darker than the rooster because they only have one copy of the barred gene but still, black barred.

Your black sex link hens are mixes. I’m not sure what their genetic background is. It’s very possible you will see some leakage on the adult plumage of some of the chicks when they mature, especially in the males but you might see some on the females too. Leakage is here other colors, like red, randomly show up in spots in the black plumage.

Good luck with the hatch!

 

[FancyFarmQ]

Thanks! Now that you say that.... Our rooster as a few brown random feathers here and there. Hahha! What's a bunch a mutts we have around here! Thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Personally I like mutts. You never know for sure what you will get when you breed crosses. I’ve created a flock of red speckled and black speckled green egg layers but hatches are getting boring. The chicks are either red or black and don’t have a lot of variety when they mature. So I’m introducing a buff rooster next year just to really mix the colors up.

 

[enola]

Thanks! Now that you say that.... Our rooster as a few brown random feathers here and there. Hahha! What's a bunch a mutts we have around here! Thank you!

If your rooster is barred with red bleed through, he is probably a sex link rooster. Did you get him the same time you got your sex link hens?

 

[FancyFarmQ]

If your rooster is barred with red bleed through, he is probably a sex link rooster. Did you get him the same time you got your sex link hens?

Yes!! They were on sale

at the feed store all as a straight run. What does that mean?!

 

[enola]

Nothing bad. I just thought you would like to know. You will get mutts when you breed your chickens. Half my flock is mutts. I love them.

 

[FancyFarmQ]

Nothing bad. I just thought you would like to know. You will get mutts when you breed your chickens. Half my flock is mutts. I love them.

Yes! Thank you so much for letting me know. Mutt power do you have an idea what you think the chicks will look like?

 

[enola]

I have never done that cross, but I would imagine different variations of black and red/brown.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Good catch Enola. That possibility never crossed my mind.

What it means is that you are almost certainly crossing crosses with crosses. You don’t know what you will get since you don’t know the genetics of the parents but with that brown leakage the hatchery rooster was probably red. I’d expect about half the chicks to be barred, half not barred. You could easily get red chicks, though most (around ¾) should be black. You could get some interesting patterns, especially in the red chicks but possibly on the black too. Would you like a red barred chicken? It’s possible.

I think your next hatch is going to be a lot more fun that you thought.