The "Ask Anything" to Nicalandia Thread

[Jesitxmarie]

Hello! Questions about Bielefelder rooster mated with RIR hen, BO hen, and Starlight (EE) hen.... will any of the resulting chicks be auto-sexed? And if my Starlights lay green eggs, what color eggs would I get with my new mix? Thanks for your help and time!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Hello! Questions about Bielefelder rooster mated with RIR hen, BO hen, and Starlight (EE) hen.... will any of the resulting chicks be auto-sexed? And if my Starlights lay green eggs, what color eggs would I get with my new mix? Thanks for your help and time!

None of the chicks would be auto sexing.

Most likely a mix of brown, & green eggs if they carry 2 blue egg genes.

 

[Jesitxmarie]

None of the chicks would be auto sexing.

Most likely a mix of brown, & green eggs if they carry 2 blue egg genes.

What makes the auto-sexing gene? I apologize for my ignorance. This is our first year to start raising chickens!

 

[NatJ]

What makes the auto-sexing gene? I apologize for my ignorance. This is our first year to start raising chickens!

Autosexing requires the barring gene from both parents, plus a color of chick on which you can see the difference. It works because the barring gene is on the Z sex chromsome. Males have ZZ, females have ZW. So a male with two doses of the barring gene will show more white than a female with one dose of the barring gene. The "more white" usually means a larger head spot at hatch (easiest to see on black chicks), and can also mean lighter color chick down (on the brown striped pattern of a Bielefelder or Cream Legbar), as well as growing feathers that show more white. (Not every gene has a dose effect like that. But barring does, which is what makes it useful in this case.)

Autosexing breeds true. For example, you cross a Bielefelder rooster with a Bielefelder hen and get Bielefelder chicks, who can be sexed by the color of their down.

Another way to have chicks that can be sexed by color is with sexlinks.
Sexlinks are a one-time hybrid. There are created by crossing one kind of rooster (example: Rhode Island Red) with a different kind of hen (example: Light Sussex or Barred Rock). The chicks can be sexed by color, but when those chicks grow up they cannot be used to produce more sexlinked chicks.

Sexlinks work because a hen gives her Z chromosome to her sons, and her W chromosome to her daughters. A rooster gives one of his Z chromosomes to every chick. Clever choice of parents means that the daughters show a recessive gene (inherited from their father.) Sons show a dominant gene (from their mother), while also carrying the recessive gene (from their father.)

Several genes work for sexlinks, with the most common being silver/gold and barred/not-barred. (Silver and Barring are the dominant traits, gold and not-barred are the recessive traits.)

 

[Jesitxmarie]

Autosexing requires the barring gene from both parents, plus a color of chick on which you can see the difference. It works because the barring gene is on the Z sex chromsome. Males have ZZ, females have ZW. So a male with two doses of the barring gene will show more white than a female with one dose of the barring gene. The "more white" usually means a larger head spot at hatch (easiest to see on black chicks), and can also mean lighter color chick down (on the brown striped pattern of a Bielefelder or Cream Legbar), as well as growing feathers that show more white. (Not every gene has a dose effect like that. But barring does, which is what makes it useful in this case.)

Autosexing breeds true. For example, you cross a Bielefelder rooster with a Bielefelder hen and get Bielefelder chicks, who can be sexed by the color of their down.

Another way to have chicks that can be sexed by color is with sexlinks.
Sexlinks are a one-time hybrid. There are created by crossing one kind of rooster (example: Rhode Island Red) with a different kind of hen (example: Light Sussex or Barred Rock). The chicks can be sexed by color, but when those chicks grow up they cannot be used to produce more sexlinked chicks.

Sexlinks work because a hen gives her Z chromosome to her sons, and her W chromosome to her daughters. A rooster gives one of his Z chromosomes to every chick. Clever choice of parents means that the daughters show a recessive gene (inherited from their father.) Sons show a dominant gene (from their mother), while also carrying the recessive gene (from their father.)

Several genes work for sexlinks, with the most common being silver/gold and barred/not-barred. (Silver and Barring are the dominant traits, gold and not-barred are the recessive traits.)

Great information, thanks!!

 

[3KillerBs]

Autosexing requires the barring gene from both parents, plus a color of chick on which you can see the difference. It works because the barring gene is on the Z sex chromsome. Males have ZZ, females have ZW. So a male with two doses of the barring gene will show more white than a female with one dose of the barring gene. The "more white" usually means a larger head spot at hatch (easiest to see on black chicks), and can also mean lighter color chick down (on the brown striped pattern of a Bielefelder or Cream Legbar), as well as growing feathers that show more white. (Not every gene has a dose effect like that. But barring does, which is what makes it useful in this case.)

Autosexing breeds true. For example, you cross a Bielefelder rooster with a Bielefelder hen and get Bielefelder chicks, who can be sexed by the color of their down.

Another way to have chicks that can be sexed by color is with sexlinks.
Sexlinks are a one-time hybrid. There are created by crossing one kind of rooster (example: Rhode Island Red) with a different kind of hen (example: Light Sussex or Barred Rock). The chicks can be sexed by color, but when those chicks grow up they cannot be used to produce more sexlinked chicks.

Sexlinks work because a hen gives her Z chromosome to her sons, and her W chromosome to her daughters. A rooster gives one of his Z chromosomes to every chick. Clever choice of parents means that the daughters show a recessive gene (inherited from their father.) Sons show a dominant gene (from their mother), while also carrying the recessive gene (from their father.)

Several genes work for sexlinks, with the most common being silver/gold and barred/not-barred. (Silver and Barring are the dominant traits, gold and not-barred are the recessive traits.)

You have explained this very, very clearly.

I think one of the things that confuses people is that Barred can be both part of Autosexing and part of Sexlinking and you've covered that information very well.

I think that the only thing that might be added is that autosexing can be lost if the breeder doesn't choose to breed only birds who were easily sexed as chicks.

 

[MysteryChicken]

@nicalandia, whenever you can answer this, or whoever can answer this would be very much appreciated.

Is it a mutation that causes the solid tails on Chinese Silkie Chickens? Or something else?

I often get more solids then pompoms, but more pompoms on the females, few solids. Was curious about this, though I prefer the solid tail, over pompoms.

 

[MysteryChicken]

My Pompom tailed ladies.

 

[everyday_farmlife]

Hi nicalandia,
Do you know much about the blue laced red wyandotte colour genetics?
If I cross a black laced red cockeral with a splash laced red hen what colour would the offspring be?
I thought black to splash only produced 100% blue offspring...
I have a cockeral who is (I thought blue laced, but someone who has been breeding more intensively than me says he is black laced)...
I put him over a splash hen and she had splash chicks as well as either black or blue laced (they are too young to know for sure yet) does this mean he would be blue laced or are my colour genetics out?

 

[ColtHandorf]

Blue-laced Red follow the same rules as any of the other Andalusian based blue birds.

He would have to be Blue.