Sex- linked Information

[Kev]

I am hoping I can convince my husband to let me have a buff orpington rooster because of this mix. If I love the color! I think I've saturated my brain in sex-linking enough (correct me if I'm wrong), that I believe I can use him to create red sex links with my Black Australorps Hens and black sex links with my Dominique hens. I would assume that with the Dominique it would be a similar color but with more comb possibiities.

Yes with the Dominiques because of the sex linked barring. Boys with head spot, girls with none.

As for Australorps- best not to count on any sex linkage at all.. first, don't know if they are silver(which is sex linked) or gold(all chicks would leak buff only) and even if they are silver, there is a chance the complex genetics of buffs would have something that turns the silver to a golden/buffish color making the sex link trait not very obvious.

 

[Kraftcrazychick]

Thanks for your response, Kev.

Is there a way besides breeding and guessing that would give me the genetics of the BA hens, whether they were gold or silver gened?

I have heard the buff color is a gamble but how does that play into feather coloring? Is it more of a rainbow assortment that's co-mingled and hard to predict? How do you write out Buff color when doing the genetic punnett square?

 

[Kev]

As for the BA.. not sure if there's any other good way.. even if the standard calls/implies for one or the other, it still depends on the line the hens are from- example, hatchery stock it would not be selected for at all.

It's the same problem with white birds- you can't see what else they have. For example, white rocks are often used as examples for sex linked matings.. but there are many examples of whites coming in dominant or recessive white. The reality here is, the hatcheries(for the purposes of breeding sex links) use a white rock line specifically bred to be this or that such as being known to be pure for silver.. basically these were custom-made for a specific purpose. Yet there are many white rocks that did not have this kind of breeding... so there are bound to be a lot of surprises for people expecting the same results with the white rocks they just got.....

Buff is a composite of many different genes- it is one of the hardest colors to achieve for this reason. The more genes and modifiers you have to get into the same bird, the harder it is. Punnett squares are good only by using specific genes and the more genes you have to account for, the square just gets monstrous.

The other problem is there are a couple 'tricks' one can use in buffs, but once the birds are solid buff, you usually can't tell if these are in or not- like some buff lines have dominant white. So it's entirely possible someone would do the cross expecting birds like the one above only to get surprised by buff and white(replace the black parts with white) birds. the reason DW sometimes gets used is because it will convert any black flecks to white, making them far less visible, giving the illusion of a clean buff.

 

[curious chickee]

I have a buff cochin cockerel and barred rock pullet. If I end up hatching their eggs would they be sex-linked. In other words, any barred chicks would be cockerels.

 

[junebuggena]

I have a buff cochin cockerel and barred rock pullet. If I end up hatching their eggs would they be sex-linked. In other words, any barred chicks would be cockerels.

That cross would make black sexlink. Any chicks with a white spot on the back of the head would be male.

 

[curious chickee]

Thanks, that's what I was hoping.

 

[Tman992]

So I have 2 red sexlinks and 2 balck sexlinks I have 2 rooseters and 2 hen. So thay canot reperduce or can they? If I bread my 2 blacks together I will have no chick ?

 

[Ridgerunner]

They can and will reproduce. The chicks will not be sex links but they will be chickens.

 

[cmom]

So I have 2 red sexlinks and 2 balck sexlinks I have 2 rooseters and 2 hen. So thay canot reperduce or can they? If I bread my 2 blacks together I will have no chick ?

They can and will reproduce. The chicks will not be sex links but they will be chickens.

I agree. You can still breed them but they don't breed true so the chicks can come out most any color. My succeeding generations were still great layers.

 

[junebuggena]

So I have 2 red sexlinks and 2 balck sexlinks I have 2 rooseters and 2 hen. So thay canot reperduce or can they? If I bread my 2 blacks together I will have no chick ?

You will get chicks, they just won't be sexlink chicks. A red sexlink is a cross of usually a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire Red rooster and a White Rock hen. The resulting chicks can be sexed at hatch by the color of their down. Girls have reddish down and boys are a light yellow/white. A black sexlink is a cross of Rhode Island Red rooster and a Barred Rock hen. The resulting chicks can be sexed by their down color. Girls are solid black at hatch, sometimes with yellow on their chests. Boys will be black with a white dot on the backs of their heads. You can breed your redsexlinks, and your black sexlinks, but they will not be purebred, since the parents are mixed breeds to begin with. You will not be able to tell which chick is male or female by down color.