Lost in genetics...please help with chicken pairing

[Auntiejessi3]

Ask and you shall receive. I consider Tadkerson one of the top three geneticists that was ever active on this forum. Unfortunately none of them are now active. I don't know if you can understand this, I'll freely admit I had to read it several times before even the basics sunk in. I find the more I learn about this the less I actually know. Whether or not you can actually get your head around it I don't know. Many people can't. Or won't. Good luck with it.

Tadkerson’s Sex Link Thread

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261208


There are a few things that have to happen before you get a sex linked chick. The mother has to have the Dominant version of the sex linked gene and the father has to have both genes at that gene pair to be the Recessive version of that sex linked gene. The other one is that you have to be able to see the difference at hatch. It's easy to forget this second one, actually being able to see it.

Your Silver Laced Male and Barred Rock female meet both of these requirements according to Tadkerson's Chart for Black Sex Links. I have not done that cross myself. When they hatch the males will have barring and the females will not. The way you see the barring at hatch is that the boy will have a spot on it's head and the girls will not. That article has photos showing what to look for.

There are combinations where the boys will be barred and the girls will not but you can't see the head spot at hatch because of the down color. Once they feather out you will see the barring on the boys feathers as long as the feathers are not white but you can't see it at hatch.

@nicalandia is awesome at explaining genetics

 

[buckock]

Oh how cute! It seems like my only guarantee for sexlink is with my barred rock hen. And for consistency, can breed pure wyandottes with those hens. Did your leghorn crosses have shorter combs and did the babies lay white eggs when they grew up?

All 16 chicks (6 crosses and 10 Wyandottes) turned six weeks old yesterday. Of the crosses, we have four roosters and two hens; I wasn't sure if feather sexing would work since they're mixes but that was also the number I got when they were chicks!

Three have a rose comb (50%) and three have a single comb (50%). A couple of the combs are massive (nicknamed one of the roosters bubblehead). We also have a Wyandotte (1 out of 10) with a single comb, so our rooster must carry the recessive single comb gene as well as the dominant rose comb gene. It's a fun detective project to see what genes he's hiding since he's definitely 'pet' quality. On the bright side, out of 36 eggs we collected, 35 were fertile so he's doing his job, well.

I don't want to hijack this post but if anyone following it has ideas how/what genes would make a Wyandotte chick could look like this and what you call this pattern (Day 1 and week 6), I'd be very grateful.

 

[nicalandia]

Three have a rose comb (50%) and three have a single comb (50%). A couple of the combs are massive (nicknamed one of the roosters bubblehead). We also have a Wyandotte (1 out of 10) with a single comb, so our rooster must carry the recessive single comb gene as well as the dominant rose comb gene. It's a fun detective project to see what genes he's hiding since he's definitely 'pet' quality. On the bright side, out of 36 eggs we collected, 35 were fertile so he's doing his job, well.

Being a Heterozygous for the Rose Comb(R/r+) is no indication of a bird being of "Pet" Quality or "Show" Quality. Wyandotte breeders know(and it has been confirmed many times during the last century by respected researchers and their pier review publications) that homozygous Rose Comb males(R/R) have low fertility(females not affected) so their best roosters(the ones that produce the most progeny for culling) are R/r+ so every now and then a single comb Wyandotte will pop up even on the best lines

 

[buckock]

Being a Heterozygous for the Rose Comb(R/r+) is no indication of a bird being of "Pet" Quality or "Show" Quality. Wyandotte breeders know(and it has been confirmed many times during the last century by respected researchers and their pier review publications) that homozygous Rose Comb males(R/R) have low fertility(females not affected) so their best roosters(the ones that produce the most progeny for culling) are R/r+ so every now and then a single comb Wyandotte will pop up even on the best lines

That makes sense. My comment about pet quality referred to his less-than-perfect lacing. He’s a great rooster and really looks after his ladies!

 

[nicalandia]

I don't want to hijack this post but if anyone following it has ideas how/what genes would make a Wyandotte chick could look like this and what you call this pattern (Day 1 and week 6), I'd be very grateful.

The inhibition effect of heterozygous Wheaten(eWh/eb) on heterozygous Melanotic(Ml/ml+) and heterozygous Pattern Gene(Pg/pg+) its what's making that chick look Silver and that chick is obviously not a pure Wyandotte but the offspring of the Black Sex link hen.

Silver Laced Wyandottes are: eb/eb, Co/Co, Ml/Ml, Pg/Pg, S/S(male)
Black Sex link hens are: E/eWh, Co/co+, ml+/ml+, pg+/pg+, s+/-(females)

That chick is eWh/eb, Co/co?, Ml/ml+, Pg/pg+ S/-(looks to be a pullet)

@buckock

 

[Poultrybonkers]

If you bred your slw over barred hen you would made sex links barred males and black females