Making our own Stars?

[PaulaJoAnne]

I have several RIR roos that are nearing maturity, so that part is taken care of.
Its the female part I have questions on. If I pick from my current hens, I have White Cochins, which are light and sporadic layers, so not my first choice, and then I have several Cochin/Cuckoo Marans crosses.

Should I cross my CM/Cochin hens, or should I find a better breed?

 

[RAREROO]

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The White Cochins most likely wont work as they are Recessive White and probably arent carrying Silver.

If they crosses are from a CM ROO on Cochin hens and they are barred themselves, then they would work to make Black Sexlinks.

Also, It wouldnt be a good idea to call them "Stars" Sexlink Brandnames are so confusing. Just call them Sexlinks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

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Wouldn't you need to know what color the Cochin hen was before you could be sure of this? The CM/Cochin cross hen may only be half-black. Just for kicks, say the Cochin hen was recessive white. The barring may be there, but it may not be visible, especially on the chick?

 

[Ridgerunner]

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Sex link genetics aside, I'm not sure what you are after. If it is just that you want good egg layers, you need to cross good egg layers with good egg layers. They do not need to be sex links or any specific breeds. Some chickens within a breed can vary quite a bit on how good they are at laying eggs. Let's use RIR for example. Most RIR are pretty good egg layers. They have been developed to lay eggs. But if somebody is breeding RIR's for show and not as good egg layers, they may have some beautiful RIR's that are not good egg layers. It just depends on what traits they have been reinforcing with their breeding program. Odds are that your RIR is from a good egg laying line, especially if he came from a hatchery. Hatcheries breed them to have the genetics to lay eggs.

You can make a red sex link by crossing a RIR rooster with a Delaware hen. Odds are it will be a good egg layer. But if you take a Delaware rooster and cross it with a RIR hen from the same flocks, you will not get a sex link but it should be just as good at laying eggs. The reason the sex links are so popular is not just because they make such good egg layers. It is because they make good egg layers and the chicks can easily be sexed at hatch.

If your Cochin/Maran crosses are good egg layers, that RIR rooster cross should give you a good egg layer. If they are not good egg layers, you should get better egg layers for that end of the cross to breed with the RIR.

 

[RAREROO]

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Wouldn't you need to know what color the Cochin hen was before you could be sure of this? The CM/Cochin cross hen may only be half-black. Just for kicks, say the Cochin hen was recessive white. The barring may be there, but it may not be visible, especially on the chick?

No As long as the rooster is a pure Homozygous Barred Cuckoo Marans, then all of his offspring will be barred regardless of what color the mother was. So if the mother Cochin is White ( Rec White) and regardless of the color that is being masked by the white, when bred to a Barred rooster, all of the offspring are going to be black barred because the white is recessive and the would only have one cope and it takes two copies to turn them white. So the hens from a pure Cuckoo Marans roo are going to be barred regardless of the mother's color and thus those female offspring will work to to cross with a RIR or any non barred rooster to make black Sexlinks.

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
Sex link genetics aside, I'm not sure what you are after. If it is just that you want good egg layers, you need to cross good egg layers with good egg layers. They do not need to be sex links or any specific breeds. Some chickens within a breed can vary quite a bit on how good they are at laying eggs. Let's use RIR for example. Most RIR are pretty good egg layers. They have been developed to lay eggs. But if somebody is breeding RIR's for show and not as good egg layers, they may have some beautiful RIR's that are not good egg layers. It just depends on what traits they have been reinforcing with their breeding program. Odds are that your RIR is from a good egg laying line, especially if he came from a hatchery. Hatcheries breed them to have the genetics to lay eggs.

You can make a red sex link by crossing a RIR rooster with a Delaware hen. Odds are it will be a good egg layer. But if you take a Delaware rooster and cross it with a RIR hen from the same flocks, you will not get a sex link but it should be just as good at laying eggs. The reason the sex links are so popular is not just because they make such good egg layers. It is because they make good egg layers and the chicks can easily be sexed at hatch.

If your Cochin/Maran crosses are good egg layers, that RIR rooster cross should give you a good egg layer. If they are not good egg layers, you should get better egg layers for that end of the cross to breed with the RIR.

Agreed

 

[Cowgirl71]

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Am I understanding this correctly? Are you saying that if I were to cross a BR roo with an RIR hen, then the resulting pullets from this cross would make black sex-links just as well as a purebred BR hen?

 

[RAREROO]

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Am I understanding this correctly? Are you saying that if I were to cross a BR roo with an RIR hen, then the resulting pullets from this cross would make black sex-links just as well as a purebred BR hen?

Yes Barred Hens are Barred hens, no matter what breed or cross, they all can have only one copy of barring and can make sexlinks.

 

[Goose and Fig]

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Am I understanding this correctly? Are you saying that if I were to cross a BR roo with an RIR hen, then the resulting pullets from this cross would make black sex-links just as well as a purebred BR hen?

No- if the roo is barred all the babies will be barred.

 

[Cowgirl71]

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Neato!!!