Sex linked coloring w/ Del/EE? *New Male 7/13*

[speckledhen]

My question is will they all come out like this? The owner of the pullet lost her as she was coming into lay from a huge sideways egg stuck and I'm trying to hatch a replacement for her, which has just pipped. Will I know immediately if it's male or female with certainty? I doubt it, but want to ask anyway. See below:

My Easter Egger, June, bred to my big Delaware rooster, Isaac, has produced a male and a female chick over the last year. The female looked like a Dellie chick but with a beard and the male, well, he's interesting-looking to say the least.

My Easter Egger, June. who came from a breeder working on a salmon color Ameraucana--obviously, she isn't salmon:

I'm sure most of you have seen Isaac or know what a Delaware looks like but here he is:

June and Isaac's kids--- this is a pic from the pullet's owner at 7 weeks old:

Here is her full brother as an adult:

As a baby, he looked like this, whereas the pullet looked like a pure Dellie with a beard:

I'm wondering if they will all pan out this way. Makes sense to me, if it's true, though, since males usually take after their moms and females after the sire.

 

[spiritdance]

To get sexlinked chicks from a Delaware the Deli has to be the hen (silver factor), crossed with a red factor male (usually a New Hampshire, but sometimes RIR - any red factor male will do); this produces red sexlinks known as Cinnamon Queens, Red Stars, or one of several other names applied to RSL.

 

[speckledhen]

So, I could get a female with odd coloring and a male that looks like a Delaware with a beard? I know about the usual sex link formulas, but this was such a wild difference, drawn down sex lines, just wondered if it was possible that I could sex the chick at hatch. Or hoped I could, anyway. If it's just the same thing as the barring gene, then of course, you're right that the hen must be the Delaware. Darn. I don't like following the rules much sometimes.

 

[tadkerson]

June looks to be wheaten but she is carrying another E locus allele- most likely wild type. That would make here wheaten and wild type at the E locus. Deli are normally wheaten but they could be wheaten/brown heterozygotes and you would not know it. June is carrying the gene or genes refereed to as autosomal red and the gold gene. Autosomal red is a catch all term for red not caused by the sex linked gold gene. The male carries silver and gold plus the autosomal red- that is why he is reddish all over. I believe June is also carrying at least one columbian restrictor- most likely two. A person would have to hatch a bunch of eggs and see if any males look to be heterozygous for the columbian gene. If the male is heterozygous then the female only carries one columbian gene.

I would say the males will look like the male in the picture with more or less red- you should get majority females that have red on their backs also. I am surprised the female did not show some autosomal red.

Tim

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you for weighing in, Tim. That pullet never got any red on her at all. I couldn't find an older pic of her this morning, but she just looked like a bearded Delaware.

Isaac with a BR x Blue Ameraucana hen produced one chick that was chocolate brown colored at hatch and ended up with a wild lacing/barring combo look and then a chick that was browish, but ended up just looking like a black sexlink cockerel with a pea comb. Genetics, as you well know, confuse the heck out of me, especially the wild gene.

 

[kathyinmo]

Cyn,
I had the same cross. Delaware roo x Easter Egger hen. Both chicks were female and looked Del-ish.

 

[speckledhen]

Kathy, yup, that's what I'm hoping, to get another one similar to the first sweet little girl. Your EE hen even has some blue in her, too, like June. That egg is zipping right now so soon we'll see if it has chipmunk coloring or is just like a bearded Dellie.

 

[kathyinmo]

Cyn,
My chicks hatched out looking like Delawares, and they got their coloring as they grew, just like the Dels.
This is the first picture I had of them, and as they grew....

 

[speckledhen]

So far this one has a black streak down the back of its head, two thin black stripes and black in the wings, but it's not fluffed out all the way yet so we'll see.

 

[speckledhen]

Here is the baby all fluffed out, poufy cheeks, single comb and all. Now, to wait and see if it's a pullet :