Sex- linked Information

[dheltzel]

I have a couple questions, sorry if this has been discussed.

I have cream crested Legbars and a black Olive egger roo. This combination should produce sexlinked chicks correct? Males would have a white spot on their head at hatch and females should be solid?

Does the sex linking with the barred gene work in reverse? I have chicks that are cuckoo maran roo over solid female marans. Would the whit spot on these chicks denote female or just that they will be cuckoo patterned?

Yes, for the first cross, but the barred parent MUST be the hen, in reverse the white spots (barring) will be more or less evenly split between the sexes.

 

[browncow15]

Yes, for the first cross, but the barred parent MUST be the hen, in reverse the white spots (barring) will be more or less evenly split between the sexes.

Cool thanks!

 

[englishcockers]

Does the sex linking with the barred gene work in reverse? I have chicks that are cuckoo maran roo over solid female marans.

All of the chicks would be cuckoo paterned. The males would be heterozygous B/b+ Dark Cuckoo barred. The females would be hemizygous B/- Cuckoo barred
The fact that females can only have one gene for the trait is what makes sexlinking work.

 

[HappyHensFarmWV]

I hope this hasn't been covered, I'm only about 5 pages in on the thread in reading..but I am thinking the answer to my question is 'no'..but is there any breed of hen that I can put a Norwegian Jaerhon roo over and get sex linked chicks?

 

[chicken pickin]

I hope this hasn't been covered, I'm only about 5 pages in on the thread in reading..but I am thinking the answer to my question is 'no'..but is there any breed of hen that I can put a Norwegian Jaerhon roo over and get sex linked chicks?

Im not 100% on this but my thought is the Norwegian Jaerhon are gold based, but I do not know the genetics of this breed. Im thinking it is possible you could cross them with a silver based hen to create Red Sexlink sexable by down color. My thought is males will either have a yellowish/silver tint while females would have a reddish brown tint.

I know nothing of Norwegian Jaerhons so I might not be correct. Im sure someone else more knowledgeable will add to this.

 

[JimWCanada]

Hi just joined the site. Lots of great info. My kids and I have been keeping chickens for 1 years and we are trying to maximize different crosses we can produce, with minimal different breeds with the goal to produce sex-linked chicks next year.

In reading numerous posts on this thread I think I know the answers but want to be sure before we started getting rid of extra birds.

We currently have a trio of Delaware chcikens (1 roo 2 hens) and are raising up a few Barred Rocks. We don't want a Barred Rock rooster (already have numerous roosters), but if we keep a couple barred rock hens to breed with the Delaware rooster, will the offspring for this cross be sex-linked? Yes because you want the hens barred correct or am I totally wrong.

We are also keeping Bielefelders and Cream Legbars in pure breeding groups, but would love to produce sex-linked cross that would lay green eggs. For roosters we have Cream Legbar, Bielefelder, Delaware, Black Copper Marans and Mottled Houdan. Would crossing a Cream Legbar hen with any of these roosters produce sex-linked offspring?

Any suggestions/clarifications greatly appreciated.

Thanks

JimW Canada

 

[chicken pickin]

Hi just joined the site. Lots of great info. My kids and I have been keeping chickens for 1 years and we are trying to maximize different crosses we can produce, with minimal different breeds with the goal to produce sex-linked chicks next year.

In reading numerous posts on this thread I think I know the answers but want to be sure before we started getting rid of extra birds.

We currently have a trio of Delaware chcikens (1 roo 2 hens) and are raising up a few Barred Rocks. We don't want a Barred Rock rooster (already have numerous roosters), but if we keep a couple barred rock hens to breed with the Delaware rooster, will the offspring for this cross be sex-linked? Yes because you want the hens barred correct or am I totally wrong.

We are also keeping Bielefelders and Cream Legbars in pure breeding groups, but would love to produce sex-linked cross that would lay green eggs. For roosters we have Cream Legbar, Bielefelder, Delaware, Black Copper Marans and Mottled Houdan. Would crossing a Cream Legbar hen with any of these roosters produce sex-linked offspring?

Any suggestions/clarifications greatly appreciated.

Thanks

JimW Canada

Regarding your first question, crossing Barred Rock females to a Delaware male, the answer is you should not use a white bird to try to create Sexlinks because white birds can carry unknown genetics. In the first post of this thread this is what is written in the second paragraph.

The second important rule is that one should not use white birds in sex linked crosses. White birds that have the correct genotype can be used to make a sex linked cross but a breeder never knows if the white bird has the correct genotype. The authors advise concerning white birds and sex linked crossing is do not use white birds in sex linked crosses. White leghorns can not be used in any kind of color sex linked cross.

Regarding your second question, You can cross a Cream Legbar hen to a Black Copper Marans cock to create Black Sexlinks that will likely lay Olive eggs. This cross will create Black Sexlinks, males will hatch black with a white head spot and females will hatch black with no head spot.

Crossing a Cream Legbar hen to a Bielefelder cock, because they are both an auto sexing breed, from what I have heard will these crossed together will also create Auto Sexed chicks. But Im not 100% sure on this.

Cream Legbar hens crossed to the other males you listed to my knowledge will not create a sexlink.

Edited to add that you can cross your Barred Rock hens to the Black Copper Marans cock also for more black sexlinks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

if we keep a couple barred rock hens to breed with the Delaware rooster, will the offspring for this cross be sex-linked? Yes because you want the hens barred correct or am I totally wrong.

No, this will not work. Your Delaware are also barred. You can use the Delaware hens to make sex links, either red sex links or black sex links depending on the rooster you use, but you cannot use a Delaware rooster to make a red or black sex link. You want the hens to be barred, you are right about that, but the rooster cannot be. That disqualifies the Delaware rooster.

I’m not that familiar with Bielefelders, Cream Legbar, or Mottled Houdan genetics. By looking at photos and looking at their heritage I think the Bielefelders are gold based and a rooster will probably give you red sex links over the Delaware hens. From one source I found I think they are barred so cannot get a black sex link from a rooster.

A Black Copper Marans rooster will give you black sex links over the Barred Rock hens. I think you will also get a black sex link with a BCM rooster over a Delaware hen but I’m not absolutely sure you will be able to see the spot on the head. The males will be barred and the females will not but part of them being sex links is that you can see the pattern on the down. You may need to wait until they start feathering out to see if they are barred or not.

The Mottled Houdan are not barred so they would be a good candidate for a black sex link over a Barred Rock hen. The mottling is a recessive gene so it should not show up in the first generation to interfere with anything. I’d also think they are a good candidate to get black sex links over a Delaware hen but with both the BR and Delaware hens I’m not real sure of the down pattern. Looking at photos of the Mottled Houdan chicks I think you will be OK with the BR but am really uncertain about the Delaware.

Hopefully someone that is familiar with these rare breeds you have will be able to give you something definite.

I just saw the other post on not using white birds for sex linked crosses. What they are talking about are solid white birds with either Dominant White or Recessive White. You just don’t know what is hiding under the white. But a Delaware is not a solid white bird. The white is based on Silver, not Dominant or Recessive White. They have the Columbia pattern with black tails and black around the neck. Hens with the Columbia pattern are based on Silver and are really great to make red sex links with the right rooster. I’ve done that with a Speckled Sussex rooster over a Delaware hen.

 

[chicken pickin]

if we keep a couple barred rock hens to breed with the Delaware rooster, will the offspring for this cross be sex-linked? Yes because you want the hens barred correct or am I totally wrong.

No, this will not work. Your Delaware are also barred. You can use the Delaware hens to make sex links, either red sex links or black sex links depending on the rooster you use, but you cannot use a Delaware rooster to make a red or black sex link. You want the hens to be barred, you are right about that, but the rooster cannot be. That disqualifies the Delaware rooster.

I’m not that familiar with Bielefelders, Cream Legbar, or Mottled Houdan genetics. By looking at photos and looking at their heritage I think the Bielefelders are gold based and a rooster will probably give you red sex links over the Delaware hens. From one source I found I think they are barred so cannot get a black sex link from a rooster.

A Black Copper Marans rooster will give you black sex links over the Barred Rock hens. I think you will also get a black sex link with a BCM rooster over a Delaware hen but I’m not absolutely sure you will be able to see the spot on the head. The males will be barred and the females will not but part of them being sex links is that you can see the pattern on the down. You may need to wait until they start feathering out to see if they are barred or not.

The Mottled Houdan are not barred so they would be a good candidate for a black sex link over a Barred Rock hen. The mottling is a recessive gene so it should not show up in the first generation to interfere with anything. I’d also think they are a good candidate to get black sex links over a Delaware hen but with both the BR and Delaware hens I’m not real sure of the down pattern. Looking at photos of the Mottled Houdan chicks I think you will be OK with the BR but am really uncertain about the Delaware.

Hopefully someone that is familiar with these rare breeds you have will be able to give you something definite.

I just saw the other post on not using white birds for sex linked crosses. What they are talking about are solid white birds with either Dominant White or Recessive White. You just don’t know what is hiding under the white. But a Delaware is not a solid white bird. The white is based on Silver, not Dominant or Recessive White. They have the Columbia pattern with black tails and black around the neck. Hens with the Columbia pattern are based on Silver and are really great to make red sex links with the right rooster. I’ve done that with a Speckled Sussex rooster over a Delaware hen.

Im glad you clarified about the Delewares not being solid white but Silver based.

They should then be able to use the Deleware hens crossed to the Cream Legbar and the Bielfelder to get Red Sexlinks. Both the Cream Legbar and Bielfelder are gold based so crossing them to any Silver based female will give you Red Sexlinks sexable by down color.

 

[JimWCanada]

Thanks for the comments so far. I had read that I could use Delaware hens to make sex-linked crosses, but was not sure if a Delaware rooster could be used for anything. Maybe I will reconsider my Delaware rooster and match my Delaware hens with a diiferent breed rooster to make red sex-linked.