Genetic Surprise

[kaiwan]

I'm not the most experienced at hatching crosses and predicting the outcome, but I thought I had this one nailed. That is, until they hatched. Let me start by saying the grandparents of these new chicks are all hatchery stock, as is the cock/father. The parent stock are RIR x black sex link. I hatched the sex links last year from a cross of black Australorp x Barred Rock. The sex link hens are solid black with some white feathering in the chest, grey legs, etc., as one would expect from that cross. The RIR cock just looks like a production strain RIR. He was sold as a RIR, not a Production Red.

The kicker: so far all the chicks hatched from the RIR x bsl are buff! I was sure they should be black. Did I misjudge the genetics, or do I have some impure hatchery stock in the bloodlines?

Here's a pic of one of the new day-old chicks.



Thanks for any help!

 

[Ridgerunner]

So the father of the chicks is a hatchery RIR rooster. As such he should be pure for gold and pure for mahogany. I’d guess Wheaton but I’m not sure about that and that might make a difference in down color.

The mothers are from a Black Australorp rooster and a Barred Rock hen. The females from that cross should be pure for Extended Black and have silver.

Yeah any chicks from that cross should be black, being split for Extended Black and whatever the rooster is, possibly Wheaton. I don’t know how many you got that are buff, but something does not add up.

I’m certainly not a genetics expert, but what I suspect is that either the BA or BR was not pure for Extended Black but was split for something else that was passed down to your Black Sex Link hen who is also split for Extended Black and that something else. Just pure luck the chicks you have hatched so far have inherited that something else to combine with the Wheaton or whatever from the RIR rooster. With the hens having silver and the rooster pure for gold, those could easily be red sex link chicks.

The reason I mentioned mahogany, I once got a hatchery Speckled Sussex rooster that should have been pure for mahogany but from the adult plumage that leaked through his offspring, he was obviously split for mahogany. That might make a difference in down color. It can happen with breeders too, but hatchery chicks are not always as pure as you would expect. With any of them, you can get a surprise.

 

[kaiwan]

Ridgerunner: Thanks for your reply. I suspect you are correct. At least one, or maybe more, of the original hatchery birds were not pure. They should be great layers, which is what I'm after!