Rooster of unknown origin breeding with black australorps

[Allilang]

I got this rooster from craigslist to watch over my flock of laying hens. With the way the world is going I wanted to try hatching some chicks.


I have 3 questions.

1: I think the rooster is a mix. does anyone have an idea of what he is?

2: It looks like the only chicks that hatched were with the black australorps. 5 came out white with black specks, 5 came out black with white bellies. I thought they must be sex-link chicks, but feather sexing doesn't seem to show any consistency there.

3: I have 2 amberlinks, but none of their eggs hatched. are sex-link chickens infertile?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Sexlinks are fertile in general, but an individual of any breed could be infertile. And no, the chicks that hatched are not sexlinked most likely. Papa likely has one dominant white gene, which was passed to the white chicks and not passed to the white bellied chicks

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I can't help with the rooster. I ended up calling mine "Rug", Rooster of Unknown Genetics.
Amberlinks are NOT Infertile. Much of my culling project are the offspring of Golden Comets, which come about the same way your amber links do, but with slightly different choice in parent stock.

/edit and as Jacin say above, Dominant White...

I've spent years trying to get Dominant white out of my flock. My opinion? It should be written as DOMINANT white. Can be absolutely infuriating.,

 

[Painted Calls]

1. He is a mixed breed. It's anyone's guess what the mix consists of.

2. They are not sex linked. Feather sexing only works with specific crosses. You will have to wait 6-8 weeks and go by comb/wattles/coloration.

3. Sexlinks are not infertile.

 

[Allilang]

Thanks so much for your answers.

My rooster 'Big Macintosh' was free so I can't complain too much. I think his original owner said something about a buff orpington. He is VERY gentile.

After such bad luck with the amberlinks, should I just not use their eggs in the next batch I put in the incubator? Or maybe I just had really bad luck this one time?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

The individuals may have low fertility, or they may not have been bred yet, or they may not have had everything up and going right in the egg factory to support embryos

 

[Allilang]

4 eggs didn't develop at all. A few more stopped developing after about 10 days.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I love mutts, and have a soft spot for underdogs. I recommend you keep trying.

Did you candle, do you know why you had no amberlink eggs hatch? Were they not fertilized, early quits, something else?

/edit and I see you posted the answer above. You incubated 15, got 5 mostly black, 5 mostly white with faded black spots (muddy/smutty), had 4 infertile, and 1 early quit. Got it. I still suggest trying again, and marking eggs if you can to ensure you correctly identify mama hen upon hatch. and age of parent stock?

 

[Allilang]

NEW INFO!

Previous owner just responded saying he is a brahma orpington.

He has been with the hens for about 5 months, and I know he has been very "busy" with them. I cracked open the 4 amberlink eggs that never developed. They were only a yolk. I didn't want to see the mess of the underdeveloped ones.

 

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

I do not believe that sex links are infertile.
You’re rooster is probably a Barnyard Mix.