New ones hatched, questions on color of chicks

foothillsfiber

Chirping
8 Years
Dec 23, 2011
166
5
91
Arkansas
So my broody just hatched 5/8. They were from different hens, black australorp, barred rock and some production reds. The roo is a barred rock. I knew that the barred gene would be in the chicks, but I was expecting some red chicks. Will one always get black and white chicks from a barred roo. The chicks are all black, with spots on head (barred) and varring degrees of white on the tips of wings and underbelly. Is it possible for some of them to turn white? I did have some hatched out earlier from same hens with a silver laced over the hens, hatched as chipmunk chicks and they turned out white with some black markings like columbian wyandottes. So question is... will there maybe be some that turn red and barred as they mature? Any guesses?
 
Will one always get black and white chicks from a barred roo.

Is it possible for some of them to turn white?

So question is... will there maybe be some that turn red and barred as they mature? Any guesses?

http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html

You can use the tool above in the future, though it usually takes some time to get used to the system.

Here's my guesses.
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One will almost always get barred chicks from a Barred rooster crossed to a Production Red. But a variable is whether or not the Barred rooster is pure for barring. Another variable is what type of Production Red is involved since there is no one set way to make Production Reds.

If your Production Red was made by crossing a red rooster and black patterned silver columbian hen and you cross that Production Red with a pure Barred rooster, then you will always get Barred offspring.

If your Production Red was made by crossing a red rooster and a black patterned silver columbian hen and you cross that Production Red with a pure Barred rooster (same as above), then, no, none will turn white later and none of this current hatch will turn red and barred as they mature. Pretty much if their new wing feathers are looking barred now, they will stay a barred chicken.

What you can do to get red (or reddish) barring is to take one of the Barred rooster chicks from this hatch and breed him back to his mother next spring. If I'm doing the Chicken Calculator properly and you have the above mentioned birds, then about 1 in 5 of the pullets hatched next spring will be reddish barred. Which would be really neat, huh? And it's okay according to many experienced breeders to breed back to his mother if he has turned out looking like a regular chicken.

However, we really don't know for sure what is in the genetic background of that Production Red, so all those calculations and results above are all just a guesses.
 

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