Rhode Island Red hyrids

[Halopino213]

I have chicks hatching at the moment and I am curious as to which babies came from which hen.

I had a Rhode Island Red Rooster that I rescued with the intention of him being a part of the flock. he slowly became very aggressive towards the human part of my family and one of my hens in particular. In short he found new home.

I have 4 hens: 1 of each breed
Barred Rock
Silver Laced Wyanndote
Aracauna
White Cochin

I know he was breeding with my Araucana (green eggs).
The first chick hatched from a brown egg.

Anybody have any idea what the crosses between the rooster and my hens could look like?

 

[QueenMisha]

Two of those will actually produce sex linked crosses. The third is completely unpredictable and the fourth mostly so.

RIR X BR is a typical black sex link cross. Cockerels will hatch black with a white spot and pullets pure black; as they grow the cockerels will be dark barred and pullets will remain black with a necklace of red around the hackle.

RIR X SLW is an atypical red sex link cross. Cockerels and pullets will both hatch black with varying amounts of color; cockerels will have silver coloration and pullets gold (these may not be obviously different at hatch but will become noticeable within the first few weeks). As they grow, cockerels will look like a very messy SLW with lots of red leakage. Pullets will look like a very messy Golden Laced Wyandotte.

RIR X White Cochin is entirely unpredictable. White is not a color, it's a lack of pigment. (There are two white genes, one recessive and one dominant, but the recessive one is much more common and it's the one Cochins carry so it's the one I'm speaking of here). Think of it like a light switch in a room. You can turn the light off and you won't be able to see the room, but the room and all the things in it are still there. In this metaphor, the white gene is the light switch, the bird itself is the room, and the things in the room are its hidden genetics; it appears white, but the white is only hiding it's real genetic color. Could be Partridge, could be Black, could be Blue... no way to know until you test breed.

And of course RIR X Easter Egger (if it lays green eggs not blue and it cost less than $100, it's not an Araucana) is unpredictable except that either some or all of the offspring will produce green eggs. (No way to tell if it will be 50% or 100%).

 

[elevatedruby]

does it matter which parent ithe rooster. or do they look different depending on which one is the roo

 

[QueenMisha]

does it matter which parent ithe rooster. or do they look different depending on which one is the roo

With the two sex linked crosses, yes, if the gender of the parents was switched the results would be different... they would no longer be sex linked. With the others, no, it shouldn't make a difference.

 

[elevatedruby]

so use a RIR rooster for sexlinks with BR and SLW? and BR rooster with Red henn would make a brown? Black?barred??

 

[QueenMisha]

so use a RIR rooster for sexlinks with BR and SLW? and BR rooster with Red henn would make a brown? Black?barred??

There are a lot longer and more technically accurate versions floating around on the web, but the short of it is:

Barred hen X almost any color rooster (except white or Silver) produces black sex links that can be sexed easily at hatch

Silver hen X red/gold rooster produces red sex links that can be sexed young but not ALWAYS at hatch. (In theory cocks who are another color besides red/gold can work for a RSL but it's not always accurate and it can be hard to get a chick down that is easily and effectively sexable; the hen's color will also sometimes affect the sexability).

The typical crosses used to make commercial Black Sex Links and Red Sex Links are RIRxBR and RIRxDelaware, respectively.

So yes, RIRxBR will give sex links that can sexed at hatch, and RIRxSLW will give sex links that MAY be able to be sexed at hatch but will definitely be able to be sexed within the first couple weeks - younger than most breeds.

BR cock X RIR hen would give 100% single barred offspring with red leakage (a sort of pastel/faint pseudo-Crele coloration), not sexable at hatch.

Actually BR cock X most things will give single Barred offspring with color leakage. Barring is a dominant gene on a black base (black also being very dominant) so it tends to take over other colors very easily.

 

[elevatedruby]

That might be the way to describe my messed up splotches on some of my hens. Their face has random white patches where pigment wouldnt go or couldnt. I know either way my birds are of low quality with this set of breeders. At least I know I can count on my bruners to be of great quality