UPDATE! CHICKS HATCHED!!!RIR Crossed with Dominate White

[spiritdance]

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Yes, I believe that's because it's the silver gene that causes the sexlinking and not the white genes. The thing is, "silver" birds look white, so it's not possible to tell from the phenotype which whites are silver based and which simply carry the dominant or recessive white genes masking other colors. Delawares were bred from silver sports, so the breed (when purebred) is silver-based and good lines reliably produce gold sexlinks. At least, this is how I understand it. I know my Delis produce sexlinks when covered by a RIR or BCM roo.

 

[Yvonne37894]

I found the post from tadkerson and have copied a portion of it. So If the white hens don't have silver in their background the will not produce sexlinks.


The second important rule is that person 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 sex linked cross.

My other chooses for a Rooster thats large enough are
Blue Ameraucan
Lt Brahma
French Black Copper Marans
Speckled Sussex

What would these produce?

 

[spiritdance]

Well, again that depends on the genotype of the white hen ... I know the experts say don't use RIWs, BUT there ARE some lines out there that carry silver ... the only way to know is to breed them. IF you used a hen w/silver, the BCM roo will produce sexlinks. As for the others, you are bringing a plethora of pattern genes into play with them, so I'd go to the chicken calculator and plug them in with dominant and recessive white hens, then with silver campine hens just in case you do have a silver-based line.

 

[Chris09]

True White Rocks should carry the Silver Gene, the original White Rocks were sports out of Barred Rocks.
Note Group B Females under Red Sex-links https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261208
Although it is stated that it isn't a good choice.

Chris

 

[Cowgirl71]

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Really? Rhode Island White hens are the most commonly used for making Red Sexlinks.

 

[Yvonne37894]

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This is not someting that I planned on doing, but, The WPR rooster is either sterile or the hens are no good. I get eggs every day, but no chicks in 4 months.
Just wanted to find out where the problem is and have a something to sell.

Thank you all for the info.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
This is not someting that I planned on doing, but, The WPR rooster is either sterile or the hens are no good. I get eggs every day, but no chicks in 4 months.
Just wanted to find out where the problem is and have a something to sell.

Thank you all for the info.

Are you feeding a high Soybean feed?
The reason I ask is, about 5 or 6 years ago I was feeding a high soy feed and my R.I. Red roosters fertility doped to the point that 1 out of 30 eggs were fertile.
Also are your White Rocks from a breeder? If so they chance are good that they are carrying the Silver gene. Some breeders will cross White Rocks with Columbian Rocks to "clean Up" the White on the White Rock variety.


Chris

 

[Yvonne37894]

Yes, I beleve the feed is high in soy
and they came from a breeder of SQ birds.
I will switch to a different feed and see what happens, how long should it take?

added
If that were the problem,,, wouldn't I have low fertility in all of my breeding pens?
We hatch out 90-120 eggs a week and do not see a problem in other pens.

 

[Chris09]

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I only had that bad of a problem with my R.I.Reds, the other breeds seem to be OK at the time.
As of now I have about a 90 to 98 percent hatch rate (depending on the breed).
If I was you I would look for a feed that has animal protein in it, it can be Fish Meal or Porcine Meat Meal.

Chris

 

[Cowgirl71]

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Hmmmm... I do remember reading that feeding soy noticeably lowers fertility in cattle. I'll have to look at my layer feed and see how much soy is in it... I'm sure there's some, but hopefully it's not one of the very first ingredients!