Cuckoo Marans Question

[Sachasmom]

Okay, so I had thought that the Cuckoo Marans males all had the spot on their heads, do the females have spots too? I was thinking they hatched out like the ones out of my Barred Rock hen crossed to my Ameraucana Roo, LOL

I learned the hard way to keep her eggs out of the bator when I hatch out the Cuckoos though, nothing like trying to figure out what breed it is!

I thought I would check, since the last nine chicks I hatched all have spots, I thought what would be the odds of hatching nine Roos in a row?

I was trying to sex my Silkies for the fair, I gave up and didn't enter them!

Can't tell on one of my older Ameraucanas either.

 

[lotzahenz]

I can help here. The cuckoos all have spots on their heads at hatch. Supposedly the Roo's have a bigger, more defined spot though. The hens will be a darker color, the roo's a "bluer" color and as they grow the roos get more defined lines, the hens get more fuzzy/smutty lines. It is usually very easy to tell them apart quickly. The roos grow faster too, usually. Hope this helps, I'm still learning silkies, but you look at the comb.

All cuckoo patterned chickens have the spot on their head at hatch. There is a cool website http://breedbook.org/? then search for genetic calculator to see what colors you get. Any cuckoo hen with a solid roo (I think) gets cuckoo roos and solid hens Called sex-links. Check it out, it is a nice site. HenZ

 

[Sachasmom]

Thanks! Here I thought Uh oh, NINE roos?

I'm probably going to do a pen of sexlinks too, since it seems people always want day old pullets!