How many boys do I have??

[donrae]

you're not missing anything. spur buds are not a reliable indicator of gender, most chicks have buds at this age.

 

[bradronnie11]

The rules about the black bars vs the white bars only works on pure bred birds. Since these are crosses, those rules don't apply.

Which parent was the Welsummer, father or mother?

Edit--reading further, it sounds like the Welsummer was the rooster and the barred Rocks were the mommas? In that case, you have sex linked chicks. All the barred birds are male, all the non-barred birds are female. that's on the crosses only, of course, not your pure Wellie.

Are you saying most of the chicks are crosses?  If so, which breed was the roo and hen?  Because if it was welsumer roo over a barred rock hen then that is a sex linked cross-  all boys barred, all girls not barred. 

Thought to ask as you seemed to be saying these are crosses and there are pictures of non-barred black girls....

the welsumer is a boy, due to the black coming onto the breast.

Hi yes the father is a welsummer and the mother is rock.
I never knew that this mixture could produce obvious signs. I just liked these breeds.
So I really do have 5 rock roos, 2 rock hens and a wellie boy?

 

[bradronnie11]

you're not missing anything. spur buds are not a reliable indicator of gender, most chicks have buds at this age.

Ok thanks

 

[bradronnie11]

The rules about the black bars vs the white bars only works on pure bred birds. Since these are crosses, those rules don't apply.

Which parent was the Welsummer, father or mother?

Edit--reading further, it sounds like the Welsummer was the rooster and the barred Rocks were the mommas? In that case, you have sex linked chicks. All the barred birds are male, all the non-barred birds are female. that's on the crosses only, of course, not your pure Wellie.

Is there no way any of the barred will be girls? How one boys feathers are darker than another, is that just the colouring?
Also, will my girls stay black? Looking different from their mums?

 

[Star2014]

In the middle of their legs higher up than you may think.

 

[Kev]

Yep, it is guaranteed you could have guessed straight from hatch- males with white head spot, females none.

It is because the gene for the white bars on feathers is a sex linked gene. Rooster with no bars(welsumer in your case) bred with barred hen= barred boys, non-barred girls.

Maybe a lesson learned but still could be a good thing if you want to do further hatches with the same cross, you would know which day olds are which straight away.

Mind, it does not work if the cross is other way- barred roo over non-barred hen because in this case ALL chicks would be barred but darkly so.

Normally, a black chicken(which is what a barred rock is- black chicken with the bars 'added') crossed with colored chicken gives chicks that start out black but gradually get more off color as they mature, particularly on neck, breasts for the girls and on the neck and backs of boys.

However yours are looking pretty dark so the girls may end up staying solid black OR may only have a little bit of brown on lower backs of their neck feathers. The boys are far more likely to show some extra coloring on the necks, wings and backs later on. Could be more white or red in those areas.

donrae is quite right about barring.. this is because it also has a dose effect. Males can either have one or two doses of barring, while females can only have one due to it being a sex linked gene. Males with two doses of barring are much brighter and whiter than females or males with only one dose.

 

[Star2014]

Wait how old are they? A month and a half you can usually feel some spur buds definitely.

 

[torilovessmiles]

Wait how old are they? A month and a half you can usually feel some spur buds definitely.

....

you're not missing anything. spur buds are not a reliable indicator of gender, most chicks have buds at this age.

 

[bradronnie11]

Yep, it is guaranteed you could have guessed straight from hatch- males with white head spot, females none.

It is because the gene for the white bars on feathers is a sex linked gene. Rooster with no bars(welsumer in your case) bred with barred hen= barred boys, non-barred girls.

Maybe a lesson learned but still could be a good thing if you want to do further hatches with the same cross, you would know which day olds are which straight away.

Mind, it does not work if the cross is other way- barred roo over non-barred hen because in this case ALL chicks would be barred but darkly so.

Normally, a black chicken(which is what a barred rock is- black chicken with the bars 'added') crossed with colored chicken gives chicks that start out black but gradually get more off color as they mature, particularly on neck, breasts for the girls and on the neck and backs of boys.

However yours are looking pretty dark so the girls may end up staying solid black OR may only have a little bit of brown on lower backs of their neck feathers.   The boys are far more likely to show some extra coloring on the necks, wings and backs later on. Could be more white or red in those areas.

donrae is quite right about barring..  this is because it also has a dose effect.  Males can either have one or two doses of barring, while females can only have one due to it being a sex linked gene.   Males with two doses of barring are much brighter and whiter than females or males with only one dose.

Lesson well learned for me! Sorry for wasting everyone's time.
still a bummer I know have so many boys

 

[bradronnie11]

Wait how old are they? A month and a half you can usually feel some spur buds definitely.

They are just over 4 weeks