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Tim the chicks you have shown are very Red enhanced, and they would make a perfect background for the double effect of Barring on the chicks, but most rhodebars at this stage lack this type of red Enhancements... and this is Why wheaten will not make the perfect or even a good Autosexing e allele because it depends on so many genes like s+(sex linked recessive gold) Mh(Autosomal Mahogany) Autosomal Red and other enhancers found on SQ RIR, Also we need to take to account that some genes may effect the expression of homozygous barring, so all in all wheaten is not a good e allele for autosexing birds... lets take a look a bird with the closest genetic make up to the Autosexing "Rhodebar" but this bird is not Autosexing... the Delaware, their genetic make up is for males. S/S eWh/eWh Co/Co B/B mh+/mh+..... While tim's Rhodebar would be s+/s+ eWh/eWh Co/Co B/B Mh/Mh... both birds are Barred Columbian Wheaten but Tim's bird would have to have all of the genes on the same bird to make it an Autosexing bird... Wildtype e+ does not have this issue at all, none of that. Silver, Mahogany, Autosomal red will not affec its autosexing traits, all you need is e+/e+ and B/B thats all... now tell me which genetic road do you wish to take? or even more, do you wish to change your birds that already carry e+ for eWh birds? infact changing your wildtype Rhodebars for Wheaten Rhodebars? all thing equal you gain nothing in terms of type and color.. this is what I would do if I wanted SQ Rhodebar birds... select the Best looking Wildtype Rhodebar bird you have(males would be best) keep an eye for the Best SQ or Herritage Rhode Island Red Pair you can get your hands on, the type of birds that will produce such a Rich colored donw tim showed just a few post ago.. Best Rhodebar you can get. mated to a SQ RIR hen.. now this will produce good quality birds, lets see how the F1s will look. while wheaten is a very unstable e allele, sometimes completely recessive and sometimes having an effect on ER chick down(as shown by Tim Adkerson a while ago) most eWh/e+ chicks I have hatch looks Chipmunk like in down color. some may look all wheaten(not keepers) I would keep the chipmunk looking birds and keep an eye for the Barred males with a headspot. by doing this cross you will undoubtedly enhance color and Type on your current Rhodebars even if you have lose Ture Autosexability...But thats why you are keeping the Wildtype looking chicks.. when the F1 chicks mature you can take the Best male and mate it back to the Rhode Island Red hen and the Best Female mate it back to the Rhode Island Red Rooster... but if you dont have enough room for two breeding pens just use the F1 males back to RIR females. again be in the Look out for Wildtype looking chicks.. after the BC1(Back Cross to Parent 1) you can use them with your mainstream Rhodebar lines..
