Ok, so I also have some chicks that I hatched out the end of Nov. Those chicks were a cross from a Blue Australorp rooster over a non-barred NN hen that was laying green eggs. There was 3 chicks with the Naked neck from the match, 2 blues and a black. I am growing those chicks out. Could I use them with a cross to a CCL to try to work towards an auto-sexting NN?
Edit: The hen used actutally looked a little partridge like in the feathering.
To establish autosexing you start with a barred breed and a breed with a chick down pattern that can distinguish double factor barring in males from single factor barring in females. Below is a chart that was published by the researchers at the Cambridge University Breeding Program from their work on the Legbar (Note: The Cambridge University Breeding Program developed nearly a dozen autosexing breeds in this same manner). You can substitute any variety of chicken with a suitable chick down color to in for the Brown Leghorn and any breed with the black white barring in for the Barred Rock. A cross of a Blue Austalorp and Buff NN would not be an ideal start because you will have birds that are expressing extended black and carrying the recessive color pattern of the NN so you will end up with twice as many culls. If the cross have something that you are wanting from the finished project (i.e. green eggs) then you can use the crosses. It just takes more birds to get what you need to move forward with the next step.

Last edited: