Sex- linked Information

[ScrubCreekChick]

I have some Delaware hens that I was wanting to cross with a Rhode Island Red rooster to get sex-linked chicks and now I lost my RIR roo, so I'm trying to figure out what I should put in with these hens that could potentially make sex-linked chicks. Would a Wheaten Maran rooster work? If not, I also have a Cream Crested Legbar roo that I could try. I would appreciate any suggestions.

 

[tadkerson]

I have some Delaware hens that I was wanting to cross with a Rhode Island Red rooster to get sex-linked chicks and now I lost my RIR roo, so I'm trying to figure out what I should put in with these hens that could potentially make sex-linked chicks. Would a Wheaten Maran rooster work? If not, I also have a Cream Crested Legbar roo that I could try. I would appreciate any suggestions.

wheaten maran can not use legbar

 

[lazy gardener]

do a thread search re: sex linking. There's a real neat chart somewhere that outlines your options.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Those charts are in the very first post in this thread. It doesn't cover all cases. Every rooster on the left will work with every hen on the right (Noting Tim's comment on all-white hens in the write-up).

There are specific combinations that that will work that are not in that chart. Some of that is you just can't include every breed known to man in a chart like that. The other is that certain roosters or hens will work with some of the others but not necessarily every one in that chart. It's still a great reference to see what your options are.

 

[LAFreewayChickens]

wheaten maran can not use legbar

Actually you can use Cream Legbar. It's got Gold genes. These are diluted by cream in the pure legbar, but cream dilution is recessive.

I was actually coming to this thread to post a picture of one of my grown out females from a CL x Delaware sexlink: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...237.1073741829.313728265424266&type=1&theater

Here's another link to a pic that shows the chicks. The one in back is a female. the two in front are males: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...237.1073741829.313728265424266&type=1&theater

 

[ScrubCreekChick]

Thank you all! If either rooster would work, which one do you think would produce better egg layers (especially in hot weather since I live in Texas)?

 

[LAFreewayChickens]

Thank you all! If either rooster would work, which one do you think would produce better egg layers (especially in hot weather since I live in Texas)?

I would guess the Legbar, since it is breed from Leghorn stock, but I'm just guessing. My CL are in San Diego (CA) and the lay pretty well. They slow down in the winter a bit. I've sold both CL x Del sexlinks and Black Australorp x Barred Rock black sexlinks to the same people, and I've heard back this winter that the latter tend to be the better layers when the days get short. But in Texas and San Diego, this isn't a huge problem.

It would also depend some on what color eggs you would prefer. The CL x Dels will lay a green egg, while the Maran x Del would lay a brown egg, all things equal, between the darkness of the Marans and the Dels.

 

[tadkerson]

Actually you can use Cream Legbar. It's got Gold genes. These are diluted by cream in the pure legbar, but cream dilution is recessive.

I was actually coming to this thread to post a picture of one of my grown out females from a CL x Delaware sex-link: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...237.1073741829.313728265424266&type=1&theater

Here's another link to a pic that shows the chicks. The one in back is a female. the two in front are males: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...237.1073741829.313728265424266&type=1&theater

You do not want a gene in the offspring that will dilute the offspring down color in red sex linked crosses unless it is dominant white ( it gets rid of black and browns in the chick down). That is why I said do not use the leg bar. The female offspring will carry one copy of the barring gene which will dilute the down color. This may effect the accuracy of sexing the chicks.

When a person crosses wild type with wheaten they do not always get the down color expressed in your offspring. The chicks you produced have the optimum down color; at other times the down color will be a peudowild type down color and the down phenotype has a greater degree of inaccuracy in sexing the chicks. Wheaten x delaware = the best down color to color sex chicks

I do not feel the need to explain every answer- I keep it short and simple in my posts.

Read the first post in this string.

Tim

 

[farmhand]

When a person crosses wild type ...

What is wild type? And what is the non-wild(s) type?

 

[tadkerson]

What is wild type? And what is the non-wild(s) type?

Wild type down color is found in light brown leghorns. It is also called chipmunk down.

photo from My Pet Chicken

Other chickens have different chick down based upon the genes they carry. The chick below is black because of the genes it carries: the genes that make the down black also make the bill, shanks and feet black but the skin on this chick was yellow when it was sexually mature.

Tim