Deerhen Project

[E flowers]

Like this

If I wanted a white pattern red wheaten which male would I use? I'd need the Mh/Mh red gene along with E^Wh/E^Wh gene.

 

[NatJ]

If I wanted a white pattern red wheaten which male would I use? I'd need the Mh/Mh red gene along with E^Wh/E^Wh gene.

Either use a Rhode Island Red male and breed him with a Red Sexlink hen.
Half of chicks will have the white patterning, the other half will have black patterning.

Or use a Red Sexlink rooster and breed with a Red Sexlink hen. Half of the chicks will show Silver (=white) instead of gold (=red), but the other half will include both males and females that are gold (red). Most of them will have white patterning, although a few will have black patterning.

Red Sexlinks usually come from a Rhode Island Red father with certain kinds of white hens. The chicks hatch out red (females) or white (males) for easy sexing. Other than the sexing, and Dominant White, they are pretty much like Rhode Island Reds.

 

[NatJ]

Would it be better to to 3 pairs? Of the maran R & legorn H? For less interbreeding and do clan mating?

You certainly could do it that way, and you are correct that you would have less inbreeding that way (as compared with using fewer birds to start.)

Or you could start with just one pair, or one rooster and a flock of hens, and then divide the offspring into three groups to set up your clan system. That would give more inbreeding than if you started with more pairs, but since the original rooster and hen are of completely different breeds you should still be able to go for quite a while before inbreeding becomes much of an issue.

Or if you want to manage them as a single flock, you can start with one rooster and one or more hens, then let them and their offspring interbreed for several generations. When you feel that they are too inbred, buy another Marans rooster to cross in (or whatever other rooster is closest to what you want.) That is a way to manage just one flock most of the time, instead of keeping a whole clan system going.

With this, just like many other details, there are lots of ways you could do it, and I really don't know which is best. The one you suggest is definitely one of the good options.

 

[E flowers]

Either use a Rhode Island Red male and breed him with a Red Sexlink hen.
Half of chicks will have the white patterning, the other half will have black patterning.

Or use a Red Sexlink rooster and breed with a Red Sexlink hen. Half of the chicks will show Silver (=white) instead of gold (=red), but the other half will include both males and females that are gold (red). Most of them will have white patterning, although a few will have black patterning.

Red Sexlinks usually come from a Rhode Island Red father with certain kinds of white hens. The chicks hatch out red (females) or white (males) for easy sexing. Other than the sexing, and Dominant White, they are pretty much like Rhode Island Reds.

I meant black pattern red instead of white pattern red sorry. The RIR x RSL would still work right?

 

[NatJ]

I meant black pattern red instead of white pattern red sorry. The RIR x RSL would still work right?

Yes, that would work. RIR x RSL should give about a 50/50 split of ones with white pattern and ones with black pattern.

Because Rhode Island Red is already a black pattern red wheaten, you don't even have to cross anything. (And as I may have said before, New Hampshire and Production Red are close enough to Rhode Island Red that you can probably treat them as interchangeable for your project. It's just easier to name one breed each time, so I keep saying RIR.)

 

[E flowers]

Yes, that would work. RIR x RSL should give about a 50/50 split of ones with white pattern and ones with black pattern.

Because Rhode Island Red is already a black pattern red wheaten, you don't even have to cross anything. (And as I may have said before, New Hampshire and Production Red are close enough to Rhode Island Red that you can probably treat them as interchangeable for your project. It's just easier to name one breed each time, so I keep saying RIR.)

Ok so I could just use the RIR with the white leghorn then?

 

[E flowers]

Ok so I could just use the RIR with the white leghorn then?

Or the Red Sexlink?

 

[NatJ]

Ok so I could just use the RIR with the white leghorn then?

Or the Red Sexlink?

Yes and yes.

As regards coloring, the Red Sexlink should get what you want faster than the White Leghorn. But if you want some of the other Leghorn traits, like temperament, you would obviously want to use the Leghorn.

Of course you could do some each way and compare the result: it would be easy enough to have a Rhode Island Red rooster with two or more kinds of hens. For the first generation, it will be easy to tell which eggs to set (Leghorns lay white, Red Sexlinks lay brown). When the chicks grow their feathers the ones with Leghorn mothers will be mostly white, and the ones with Red Sexlink mothers will be mostly red.

 

[E flowers]

Yes and yes.

As regards coloring, the Red Sexlink should get what you want faster than the White Leghorn. But if you want some of the other Leghorn traits, like temperament, you would obviously want to use the Leghorn.

Of course you could do some each way and compare the result: it would be easy enough to have a Rhode Island Red rooster with two or more kinds of hens. For the first generation, it will be easy to tell which eggs to set (Leghorns lay white, Red Sexlinks lay brown). When the chicks grow their feathers the ones with Leghorn mothers will be mostly white, and the ones with Red Sexlink mothers will be mostly red.

What are the red sexlink genes?

 

[E flowers]

I think this would be correct.