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NewJourney
Chirping
As I understand it, Andalusian roosters are bred with Barred Rock hens. Some of those resulting hatchlings go on to be called Sapphire Gem chicks (only about 30% of the total hatched chicks have the right color/genetic expression to be called SG). So, because those chicks are technically about 50% BR and 50% Andalusian those chicks HAVE some of that genetic material from the BR but the barring gene isn't expressed. That doesn't mean that they DON'T have the genes, it means it isn't expressed.
When a SG reproduces with a BR the Barring should always express whether or not the chick is male or female. If the SG reproduces with a non-barred rooster, the resulting chicks shouldn't have barring unless the rooster also had a recessive trait for barring - then some of the chicks could have barring, both male and female.
This article (quoted below) might explain it better than I can.
It's possible for a non-barred hen to produce barred chicks if her eggs are fertilized by a barred rooster.
I took more photos this afternoon. Yes, some have pasty butts, I cleaned them up after I took the photos. We have also hatched out ebay-purchased hatching eggs; many may be in the photos alongside the ones in question. In total we have 19 new babies. Of the 19 11 are from our SG and BR or BA rooster.
The first batch (the most feathered) are from a week ago (hatched from our own eggs) and the newer ones are two Polish chicks (purchased), 2 of our own eggs was added to the ebay eggs and both hatched, then we had 6 of the ebay eggs hatch.
In the photo below the bigger gray one is the one in question. The thinner one is a newer Polish chick we picked up.
In the photo below the top, big feathering chick is the one I'm referencing. I picked this one up and checked it's wings. It has three white feathers in the wings. I think that's barring coming through? I have read that Black Australorp (and Jersey Giant) chicks often have three white feathers until they are about 5-6 months old then they tend to lose them and grow in black.
Random unnecessary paragraph chatting about the ebay hatchlings shown in the pic below (and a side quest if you like to guess some other chicks breeds): Some of them Four of them are ones in a line at the bottom of the photo. Starting bottom to top: yellow with brown speckles on it's head, brown, gray, brown.. They all have feathered legs/feet. I'm so excited to see how they feather out. They're so small. Maybe silky mix? They only have 4 toes, not 5. Also from the ebay eggs we have an Ayam Cemani either purebred or mixed. It has all black skin, beak, eyes, feathers, etc. I'm pretty sure the yellow chick with brown spots on its head and the gray one came from what appeared to be Starlight Green Egger eggs. I actually had to help both of them out of the shells. The yellow one was the one I basically did all the work. I didn't spend all that money on those ebay eggs to only get ONE Ayam Cemani (pure or mixed) chick! It was a bad situation, I'll chat about what happened later... We have 5 dark brown eggs left, and a cream colored egg still incubating. There is life in the cream egg but it is very underdeveloped. I cannot tell with the dark brown eggs. I tried putting them in a bowl of warm water to see if i could see movement - I didn't. I only saw movement in the cream colored egg. I candled the cream colored egg and definitely see movement but it looks only about halfway there. I'll continue to incubate until it hatches or the movement stops. Seller stated the chicks could be a mix of any of the following (and more she didn't list): Several colors of Cochin, Ayam Cemani, Silky, Deathlayer, Starlight Green Egger, several varieties of Marans, White Leghorn, and Buckeye.
The image below, the chick on the left half out of the frame - the feathered one, and the black one on the bottom with the tiny white wing tips. A newer Polish took front and center in the frame, unfortunately lol.
