Sexing Barred Rock Chicks

[LesGus5]

Not by leg color alone, no. I never say that. Always take the three traits together. The cockerel in the pic above has very little black. Some have none. I've never seen a cockerel start out with very black leg fronts.

Thinking of the trifeca of small head spot, dark legs. and balck in color, I am hoping I picked a girl.....Though my three year old daughter named her Kristoff. (For all of you "Frozen" fans, her brooder mates are Elsa and Anna...along with Cocoa and Penguin. Yes. She is hatchery and bought at a feed store, so I have all of miy fingers crossed. What do you think?

 

[speckledhen]

LesGus5, so far, I'd say pullet, yes.

 

[LesGus5]

LesGus5, so far, I'd say pullet, yes.

Awesome. Thank you. She was the darkest in the bin and with the smallest spot on her head..There were not very many at this time of year.. Thank you for the info you provided and hopefully the tips hold true....otherwise I suppose I have an appropriately named roo...

 

[Fly Fisher]

Here is a paragraph from an article that I was reading on genetics / color. It specifically refers to the grizzly pattern which barred rocks have. It is fail proof. You do have to be patient for feather development. These barred birds develop very slowly.


Another implication of sex linkage is that male birds have two doses of all the genes on the sex chromosomes, because they are ZZ, and females only have one dose, because they are ZW. The simplest example in hackle of this sex linked dosage effect is the barring in grizzly. Barring is an incompletely dominant gene, identified as "B", which is on the sex chromosome and so is sex linked. Roosters have two sex chromosomes ZZ, and so have two doses of barring, noted as BB. Females on the other hand are ZW and so can only have one dose of barring, noted as B-. The effect of this dosage is the degree to which the periodic inhibitor of the barring gene occurs. In roosters the unpigmented "white" portion of the barring is approximately equal to the pigmented black portion. But in hens the white portion is usually less than half the width of the neighboring black bars. In addition the white bars are whiter and clearer in the roosters than in the hens. This is a classic example of the dosage effect due to sex linkage

Here is some additional information regarding the development of these feathers.

A plumage pattern well known to all fly tyers is grizzly. This pattern is also created by the inhibition of pigment deposition, not the addition. The mode of action of the barring gene "B" is not to place a black pigment band on a white background, but rather the periodic and regular inhibition of pigment creation on an otherwise all black chicken as the feathers develop within the feather follicles. It has been proposed that the biochemical action occurring to create grizzly is a rhythmic buildup and then exhaustion of a pigment inhibitor flowing throughout the body and not just within each follicle, and that is why the barring lines up on the bird and appear to be coordinated across an entire feather tract.


Ken

 

[speckledhen]

There is a difference in hatchery BRs and true old line heritage BRs, though. The hatchery Rocks are easier to sex, generally, and develop much faster, barring much less precise, more cuckoo than barred, some so messy you can barely call it barred at all. But sexing by head spot and leg color is pretty easy most of the time with the hatchery BRs.

I've had both. Love them both, but sexing the true old BRs is so much harder than my hatchery stock ever was. I could call the hatchery stock immediately and was rarely EVER wrong on their sex. I think I only missed the mark two or three times over years of hatching chicks with the sexing. The others, well, you have to wait and see because the head spots can be small on the males and the leg color can be light on the girls, no true dark wash. It's just not the same animal at all with the "good ones".
Quote:
Both males and females have such precise, crisp barring on my Stukel line BRs as chicks, I couldn't even go by that reliably. It was a new experience, that's for sure!

 

[Fly Fisher]

Are your Stukel line BR's very slow growing? I would expect to see more white and crisper definition in bird that develops very slowly. Just Curious

 

[speckledhen]

Are your Stukel line BR's very slow growing? I would expect to see more white and crisper definition in bird that develops very slowly. Just Curious

Yes, they are slow to develop, especially the males, in feathering and the frame filling out. The slow feathering allows for a better definition in the plumage pattern. If I recall, the pullets all began laying between 28 and 36 weeks of age, but it's been almost 4 years so I can't remember. I have only one younger one who is two years old now and I honestly don't recall when she began laying.


Here is a Stukel cockerel at about 8 weeks old:



And a pullet same age:

 

[Fly Fisher]

very nice birds. The hen is very bright. It is also impressive how the individual feather tracts appear as one continuous pattern.

thanks for posting the photos,

ken

 

[speckledhen]

You're welcome, Ken. I do have the three hens and a daughter of one of those hens out of the male pictured. Sadly, he was killed around a year old by a poisonous snake and I am breeding back up now using a male who is 3/4 Stukel Rock. I love their size, the super velvety softness of the feathers (my friend always comments on how soft the BR hens are) and, of course, that spectacular barring. They also have the sweet, friendly personalities I came to love in my hatchery BR hens years prior to having this line.

They just are not as easy to sex as early on as hatchery stock or my hatchery stock's progeny. No biggie. Perfection takes time, right?

 

[LesGus5]

LesGus5, so far, I'd say pullet, yes.

Here "she" is at about a month. Really messy barring and still very dark, so I'm still thinking pullet for Kristoff