DIY sex link a boy?

[wleigh1021]

I crossed my EE roo which looks like a blue birchen maran over my barred rock hen. 5/6 hatched had pretty noticeable head dots but this one that I kept didn't. However, 5 weeks later it's starting to look like a boy with a pink comb and some varring? Thoughts?

Last picture shows mom and dad

 

[wleigh1021]

One more picture of wing feathers

 

[love4mychickens]

Wow! He's adorable!

 

[AlleysChicks]

If it’s a true sex link then the barring is a giveaway for a cockerel.

 

[Redhead Rae]

The chick had a head dot. If you really did do a BSL, then yes, this chick is male. I did something similar. I put my Black Cochin roo over my Dominique and Dominique cross hens (all barred) I got 5 chicks with noticeable spots, 4 without, and one chick who had a light patch that wasn't really a spot. It is the lighter one in the pics below.

When the chick was about 2 weeks old, I got confirmation that it was male. Barring in the wing feathers.

He grew up into a handsome bird.

 

[wleigh1021]

Thanks redhead, very helpful! I wonder if there's anything hiding in that EE genetic background that would cause a head dot on all chicks. I gave away 5 other chicks of this mix to a friend and I thought they were all male but he thinks only 2 are. It's disappointing if all 6 were boys!

 

[Bonniebooboo]

I would say cockerel. I see a faint spot on head in younger chick picture. Mine like that have so far turned out to be male.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Thanks redhead, very helpful! I wonder if there's anything hiding in that EE genetic background that would cause a head dot on all chicks. I gave away 5 other chicks of this mix to a friend and I thought they were all male but he thinks only 2 are. It's disappointing if all 6 were boys!

I was actually just typing out a response to this effect and then decided not to say it.

For BSL you are supposed to use a "solid colored" rooster that isn't dominant white (white leghorn). I've used my Black Cochin and New Hampshire roosters for making black sex links.

Since your EE rooster isn't a solid color, his coloring could be hiding all sorts of interesting things. But I haven't heard of barring being hidden by anything but dominant white.....

 

[AlleysChicks]

My blue Andalusian roo over Barred Rocks. I have 2 cockrels from that group. One traditional male BSL and the other a blue with ghost barring.

^blue in this pic has its head straight down.

^The 2 up front are the BSL cockerels.

And here they both are at 5 months old.

 

[Redhead Rae]

@The Moonshiner what do you think? It is possible they could have hatched 6 cockerels.....