mixed Barred Rocks

[cmfarm]

So I know with pure barred rocks you can tell pretty well males and females by head spot shape and leg coloring, but is that also true with mixed chicks? I have some chicks from a BR rooster and RIR females (not sex linked) so I was wondering if it would work for them since they all look like Barred Rock chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

No, afraid not. What gives the males the larger spots is that they have two copies of the barred gene while the females only have one copy.

The barring you are talking about is a sex linked gene. That means a hen gives a copy to her son but not to her daughter. The rooster gives a copy to both his sons and daughters. So the males wind up with two copies and the females with only one.

With your BR rooster over RIR hen, both the sons and daughters get only one copy so they will look the same.

 

[cmfarm]

Okay, thank you for the answer, it was very helful.