RuPaul, a Barred Rock Hen that changed to a Rooster

[lockedhearts]

I hatched Ru last year from eggs I got from Speckledhen, he had big feet when hatched and his marking were not blatantly either sex so I figured boy. As he grew he was dark and colored like a hen, so I decided Hen with Big Feet. He finally got Saddle Feathers and is the prettiest Rooster I have ever seen.
He is from Zoe, one of the hens I got from Cyn and he is not the only Dark Rooster, someone bought a couple "pair" from me and ended up with 3 Roosters......

I am growing out a few more BR girls and I will put 3 older girls with Ru and 3 with Mace and then will have 2 younger girls with each.

 

[mener6896]

gorgeous roo! or should I say Ru?

 

[lockedhearts]

Thanks! I think he is really pretty. I am going to seperate his mom and Mace and collect some eggs, hatch them and do a study to see what percetage of her boys turn out dark like this.

 

[Kev]

Looks like he has only one Barring gene which is making him look a little 'dark'. If he has only one barring gene, half of his daughters will be non-barred.

Him x BR hen= all sons barred but half will be 'dark' like him, other half the usual lighter barred(which are the pure barreds) and daughters half barred and half solid black.

 

[Serrin]

Oh MY!!! And a very pretty, handsome, gorgeous, spectacular, and stunning boy he is!!! SWOOOON!!!!

You say you hatched him last year. Just how old is he now? Will he develop any further? Perhaps his tail get more pronounced? As well as his hackles?

Just a gorgeous bird! And I like the darker coloring tyvm!! It sets him apart from other RB Roos!

 

[speckledhen]

That has to be the most unusual bird I've ever seen come from my BR crew. This was Zoe's first chick and I'm betting you won't be able to reliably sex any of his progeny early on if he throws chicks like his mama does! His comb has a curve to the right at the backside, doesn't it? He is soooooo dark! Anyway, we know whose influence made him so dark--definitely his mother's. She was Hawkeye's daughter with my Amanda, who came from helmstead's BR flock and is very dark herself, with the finest, thinnest barring I've ever had here.


Kev, how on earth did he get only one barring gene? Just Russian Roulette, sort of? His parents are pure Barred Rocks, hatched here. He's about three or four generations removed from the hatchery on his mother's side and a couple generations removed on his father's side.

 

[lockedhearts]

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I am wondering that myself. I guess when his girls get with him I can do some tests to see how he is throwing the color like I am going to do with Mace & Zoe.

 

[lockedhearts]

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I would have to go back and look, but I am thinking he is not quite a year old, because it was late last year.

 

[Kev]

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It's not so uncommon, roosters with only one copy and passing it down the generations. A lot of people don't catch the visual difference between single and double dose roosters, especially if the single dose roosters still have a reasonable amount of barring, like this one. Time will tell when eggs out of his pen are hatched- any solid colored chicks will be instant proof he has only one copy. With another BR, 75% of the chicks will be barred, with the 25% solid colored being the non=barred daughters. Can test-mate him with better chances of proving if he is single or double dose by pairing him with a NON-barred hen(and not white either).. any Buff Orp, RIR or EE will do just fine. If this rooster is single dose, then him x say, a RIR will produce 50% barred and 50% not barred in both sexes.

Is it normal for your BR to have quite large main tail feathers? This rooster has quite large ones.

 

[speckledhen]

Is it normal for your BR to have quite large main tail feathers? This rooster has quite large ones.

Well, there is nothing usual about this rooster, Kev, LOL. He's an odd one, to be sure. None of mine, including his brothers or father have a tail like that one. He's weird from the get-go, that one.​