Sex- linked Information

[cmom]

Quote:
A few years ago I did a RIR male with Delaware females and the birds if you picture look like the females did in my cross. The males all looked like the Delaware mothers

 

[mymilliefleur]

A few years ago I did a RIR male with Delaware females and the birds if you picture look like the females did in my cross. The males all looked like the Delaware mothers

I'm very pleased with those hens. They are excellent layers, and a great size. They have very nice personality's too.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
Mine were very good layers too. They are getting old and are now in one of my general population pens but still laying. They don't lay as often any more but I still get an egg about every other day from them. My DH wants me to get rid of the old girls because they aren't laying as well any more but I get attached to them and I know I shouldn't but I do. He is more concerned with the feed cost but I'm the one paying for the feed. It doesn't come out of his pocket. I worked hard for a lot of years and even though I'm retired I still work hard, probably harder than when I was employed. In my youth I heard people say that they didn't know how the managed to get work done at home while working a regular job. I used to wonder too until I was in the same boat and I was ready to retire. Not a day goes by when I think of more things I should have done but ran out of time. Oh well there is always hopefully a tomorrow. I love my birds. <3

 

[tommysgirl]

A few years ago I did a RIR male with Delaware females and the birds if you picture look like the females did in my cross. The males all looked like the Delaware mothers

Thats what happens with NH over Delaware too but with red leakage. I have one now who is getting more and more red all the time I ate the other cockerels and they were a good dual purpose meat source.

 

[TheChickenQueen]

I have a question.

Is it possible to create Sex-linked Marans?

And can you use Blue (copper, or b/b/s) Marans in any of those? What about Blue(b/b/s) Orpingtons?

Would Golden Cuckoo Marans work for black sex-link chicks? If not can they be used in any others?

If anyone has pictures of Sex-linked Marans please post pictures!

 

[donrae]

You can easily make sex linked Marans. Use a b/b/s male over a cuckoo hen. Golden cuckoo should also work, just expect the gold leakage in the offspring.

 

[TheChickenQueen]

You can easily make sex linked Marans. Use a b/b/s male over a cuckoo hen. Golden cuckoo should also work, just expect the gold leakage in the offspring.

Okay thank you! I had read about someone sex-linking some, and it is a really good idea.

 

[TheChickenQueen]

Another question. Does it effect the egg color? I read that it did and would like to know.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Egg shell color is inherited from both parents. There are a lot of different genes involved, some recessive, some dominant, and some incompletely dominant. Some might only act if another gene happens to be present. You can really get some weird things happen with egg shell color, especially if one parent is contributing dark genes and one is contributing light genes. The color you get is not always in the middle. In general the shade of the egg the hen lays and the shade of the eggs the rooster’s mother and grandmothers laid give you a real good clue on what you are likely to get.

There is no genetic connection between feather color or pattern and egg shell color. Feather (actually down) color or pattern is what you are talking about in making a sex link from these. By the way, a Black Copper Marans rooster over a Cuckoo Marans hen will also give you a Black Sex Link chick.

How dark a Cuckoo Marans, B/B/S Marans, or any other Marans eggs are has nothing to do with whether it is a Cuckoo, B/B/S or anything else. There is no genetic link. Egg shell color has everything to do with the person selecting which chickens get to breed and reproduce. If the person selecting the breeding parents selects for dark eggs and knows what they are doing, the eggs will be darker. If the person selecting which parents get to breed does not pay any attention to egg shell color, the eggs are highly likely to not be that dark.

Here is a link to a paper about egg shell genetics by the same person that started this thread. Looking through the list of references at the end the latest date I saw was 2010, so the information is pretty current.

http://www.maranschickenclubusa.com/files/eggreview.pdf

I’ve read that at least 13 different genes have been identified that affect the shade of brown on a brown egg. Who knows how many have not been identified. One of these genes is a sex linked gene. That means if the father happens to have this gene, he will give it to his daughters but the mother will not contribute this gene to her daughters. So potentially the father may have more effect on egg shell color than the mother. I don’t know the effects of that gene, whether it darkens or lightens an egg, and the rooster may or may not have this gene to start with.

To sum up, if the hen and the rooster’s mother lay dark eggs, the pullet will probably lay a dark egg. It will probably be a shade somewhere in between what hen laid and the rooster hatched out of, but there is always the possibility it could be even darker or maybe even lighter. There is one way to find out. Hatch some eggs.

 

[TheChickenQueen]

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you!