Sex Linking - White Silkie Roo x White Leghorn Hen & CLB Roo x LS Hen

[SteadyAsTheyGo]

Hello everyone!

Fate has dropped into my lap a couple of odd combinations!! We were told that these two combinations could potentially provide sex linked offspring, but I have struggled to find (and fully understand) information online to back this up. I would like to know more before diving into hatching. I'm hoping your knowledge and experience can help clue me up!

In one pen I have a White feathered Silkie rooster running with white feathered Leghorns. Could this provide sex linked chicks, being determined by the black/yellow skin colouring of the offspring?

In another pen, we have a Cream Legbar rooster running with some Light Sussex girls (as well as his CLB girls). Would he pass on a barred gene to any offspring with the LS Hens? Would chicks from this pairing have sex link properties?

Thanks a million everyone and any help/info is greatly appreciated!

 

[NatJ]

In one pen I have a White feathered Silkie rooster running with white feathered Leghorns. Could this provide sex linked chicks, being determined by the black/yellow skin colouring of the offspring?

I think it should work that way, but I just recently saw a thread with a similar cross that did not work out as expected, so there may be some other genes able to affect it.

We also have a Cream Legbar rooster running with some Light Sussex girls (as well as his CLB girls). Would he pass on a barred gene to any offspring with the LS Hens? Would chicks from this pairing have sex link properties?

A barred rooster (like your Cream Legbar) should pass the barring gene to all of his chicks, male and female alike.

To get sexlinks with barred birds, you need barred mothers and not-barred fathers. So the barred daughters of your Cream Legbar could produce sexlink chicks if you cross them to a not-barred rooster.

But the Cream Legbar is genetically gold, and the Light Sussex are genetically silver, so you should get another kind of sexlinks from those: gold daughters, silver sons. The "silver" males will probably have some amount of yellow or gold or red feathers showing when they grow up, but they should still show a lot more white than their gold sisters. And they will all have white barring.

 

[SteadyAsTheyGo]

I think it should work that way, but I just recently saw a thread with a similar cross that did not work out as expected, so there may be some other genes able to affect it.



A barred rooster (like your Cream Legbar) should pass the barring gene to all of his chicks, male and female alike.

To get sexlinks with barred birds, you need barred mothers and not-barred fathers. So the barred daughters of your Cream Legbar could produce sexlink chicks if you cross them to a not-barred rooster.

But the Cream Legbar is genetically gold, and the Light Sussex are genetically silver, so you should get another kind of sexlinks from those: gold daughters, silver sons. The "silver" males will probably have some amount of yellow or gold or red feathers showing when they grow up, but they should still show a lot more white than their gold sisters. And they will all have white barring.

Hi NatJ!

Thank you for the info and it's nice to internet-meet you! It's sheer luck we ended up with these combos so it is interesting to find out about the possibility of sex linking in them!

I'm curious about the other Silkie x Leghorn thread, was there any clue as to why it didn't work out?

Thank you again for your input!

 

[NatJ]

I'm curious about the other Silkie x Leghorn thread, was there any clue as to why it didn't work out?

It was actually Ayam Cemani x Leghorn.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/ayam-cemani-x-leghorn.1378263/

Pictures of chicks with gender-specific combs and some mis-matched skin colors are on page 2.