Hen or Roo: Genetics Question

[countyroad1330]

Ok, we had a brown Leghorn hen hatch babies; the roo was a barred Rock. The only baby we kept is in every way, appearance and attitude, a leghorn. But it is Barred! So, is it likely that its a hen like the mother? Does that make sense? Or is there absolutely no logic to my theory? *haha*

 

[Blisschick]

Barring can be passed by both sexes. In some cases it's sex-linked, but not always, and probably not in this case.

Edited to say...I meant it probably WAS in this case...duh...just another long day at work...

 

[countyroad1330]

Well pooh. I think I'd read somewhere that a roo can pass the barred gene to both sexes, but a hen can only pass it on to males. But that doesn't help my idea either *ha* Nevermind

 

[speckledhen]

According to genetics people, Barred Rock roosters will pass barring to both offspring, while if the hen was the BR, she would pass it to only her sons. That has been my experience, too, in some accidental sexlinked chicks with Barred Rock mothers and three different fathers. The males all had barring.

 

[Blisschick]

I have a blue barred male, and he has passed his barring to both males and females, but mostly males. In each case, the barring was black and white.

 

[speckledhen]

To expound on my experience, here is what I got from all Barred Rock mothers with:
1) Cochin/Silkie cross rooster- the pullets are solid black with poufy crests and a little gold in their hackle areas. The cockerel looked just like a Barred Rock boy,but with a poufy crest.

2) Silver Phoenix rooster-the one pullet was solid black and with a Phoenix hen shape. The three cockerels all had ghosty/blurry barring and I originally thought they were Barred Rock pullets, but nope.

3) Easter Egger rooster-I only got two pullets from this cross, so can't answer what the cockerel would have looked like. The pullets had spangling and were really beautiful.

So the males all got barring from their mothers and the females were basically black with some gold.

 

[FrozenChicken]

I've also noticed that Barring sometimes skips a generation only to reappear in Cockerals.