What happens if you breed two black sex links?

[chameleon]

Burn out sooner means stop laying sooner. From what I've read. I got my first sex-links Golden Comets as day old chicks, they are 47 weeks old. I've read they are hardy and so far I've not had to medicate or worm.
As far as mating a sex-link roo with a sex-link hen, egg laying will not be as good, from what I have read. I don't know what they will look like. My five pullets give me 32 to 35 eggs a week for around 5 months straight. GC

Thanks. So future generations would lay about as well as the original non-hybrid stock? I'd be ok with that, as long as they don't become terrible layers.

ETA: 35 a week is amazing! If mine lay even close to that amount I'll have to start selling my eggs

 

[donrae]

As to color.....

If you keep a sex link rooster, and breed him to a sex link hen, you'll get 50% barred chicks, regardless of gender. 50% solid. The base color will be black, but you'll likely have some red leakage coming through on both hens and roosters.

You're kind of comparing apples to oranges here, when folks are talking about hybrids having a higher rate of lay and burning out faster. Those statements can apply to hatchery hybrid sex link layers, but it's not simply because they have sex linked genes. The sex linkage has nothing to do with how well a bird lays, or how fast they might "burn out". Those traits come from the parent stock, that they're bred to be such high production birds.

A bird simply being a hybrid or mixed breed does not mean it's going to be a stellar layer. Having the sex linked to the color doesn't mean it's going to be a high production bird. It's just that the hatchery birds have been intensely bred that way for so many generations, folks confuse the two things.

Crossing breeds does result in "hybrid vigor", usually a healthier animal overall. But, you've still got to start with good parent stock. In your case, the offspring are going to lay basically the same as the parent stock. So will future generations. You don't magically gain or lose egg production over the generations with sex linked genes.

For example, I have a pen set up to give me red sex linked chicks. The rooster is a Silkie, one of the hens is a light Brahma. Neither of those breeds are known for their laying prowess. So, just because I'll be able to sex the chicks at hatch, and they're red sex links, doesn't mean they're going to lay like the hatchery red sex links

. they're just going to be cute little buggers that should brood up a storm!

the biggest bonus to hatching your own sex linked birds is the ability to tell gender at hatch. This is handy if you're selling sexed chicks, or if you want to cull the males to only raise pullets.

 

[chameleon]

As to color.....

If you keep a sex link rooster, and breed him to a sex link hen, you'll get 50% barred chicks, regardless of gender. 50% solid. The base color will be black, but you'll likely have some red leakage coming through on both hens and roosters. 

You're kind of comparing apples to oranges here, when folks are talking about hybrids having a higher rate of lay and burning out faster. Those statements can apply to hatchery hybrid sex link layers, but it's not simply because they have sex linked genes. The sex linkage has nothing to do with how well a bird lays, or how fast they might "burn out". Those traits come from the parent stock, that they're bred to be such high production birds. 

A bird simply being a hybrid or mixed breed does not mean it's going to be a stellar layer. Having the sex linked to the color doesn't mean it's going to be a high production bird. It's just that the hatchery birds have been intensely bred that way for so many generations, folks confuse the two things. 

Crossing breeds does result in "hybrid vigor", usually a healthier animal overall. But, you've still got to start with good parent stock. In your case, the offspring are going to lay basically the same as the parent stock. So will future generations. You don't magically gain or lose egg production over the generations with sex linked genes. 

For example, I have a pen set up to give me red sex linked chicks. The rooster is a Silkie, one of the hens is a light Brahma. Neither of those breeds are known for their laying prowess. So, just because I'll be able to sex the chicks at hatch, and they're red sex links, doesn't mean they're going to lay like the hatchery red sex links  . they're just going to be cute little buggers that should brood up a storm!

the biggest bonus to hatching your own sex linked birds is the ability to tell gender at hatch. This is handy if you're selling sexed chicks, or if you want to cull the males to only raise pullets. 

Thanks for taking the time to clarify that for me, I'm still new to chickens and learning as I go along. The reason I believed this particular crossing of New Hampshire and Koekoek would produce better layers is that's what the breeder who's selling me the chicks said. Honestly, I don't understand why crossing two average laying chickens would produce a better layer, but I don't know about genetics. I also completely agree that crossing random breeds isn't going to just produce super layers, I assumed it had something to do with the genetics of these particular breeds.

As for the breeder I am purchasing from, after thorough research he appears to be the only reliable breeder in my area, and he breeds both show quality and production layers. This is however the first time I'm ordering from him so I can't be too sure yet of the quality of his chickens. I ordered from him though because I've been very disappointed with other breeders in the area, they offer very little variety and their chickens just don't look healthy at all.

Whatever happens, I will be happy with average layers that are healthy, happy birds. I also thought as a small side project I might try my hand at breeding.

 

[donrae]

Just be warned---breeding and hatching is addictive

 

[chameleon]

Just be warned---breeding and hatching is addictive 

thanks, I know. This all started because I rescued 3 chicks, then I rescued their mom and helped her hatch out 11 more. I had to sell them because I had already planned to go away for 3 weeks and there was no one to look after them, but now I miss them so much I can't wait to get started again. I ordered 10 chicks, so I could sell the roos, but they haven't even arrived yet and I'm already thinking of keeping a roo and expanding the coop and breeding. Chicken math is contagious :cd

 

[Poppy Putentake]

About the color:

A Rooster from the "Black Sex Link" cross is barred black and white. The barring is dominant, but since he only has one gene for it (on one of his two "Z" sex chromosomes), he would pass the barring gene on to only half of his offspring, both male and female.

The base color is on one of the regular, non sex, chromosomes. Both the hen Black Sex LInk and the cock have one gene for red (recesssive) and one for black (dominant). Beause the black gene is dominant, that's what color the birds are. 3/4 of the next generation will get at least one gene for black and show the black color. (The 1/4 that get two black genes will probably have less (or no) red showing through.) 1/4 will get two red genes and be red.

So, in the next generation, both sexes will be like this:

3/8 solid black (1/8 all black, 1/4 with some red)
1/8 solid red
3/8 barred black and white
1/8 barred red and white

If you actually do this cross, I hope you tell us what colors you do get!

 

[chameleon]

About the color:

A Rooster from the "Black Sex Link" cross is barred black and white. The barring is dominant, but since he only has one gene for it (on one of his two "Z" sex chromosomes), he would pass the barring gene on to only half of his offspring, both male and female.

The base color is on one of the regular, non sex, chromosomes. Both the hen Black Sex LInk and the cock have one gene for red (recesssive) and one for black (dominant). Beause the black gene is dominant, that's what color the birds are. 3/4 of the next generation will get at least one gene for black and show the black color. (The 1/4 that get two black genes will probably have less (or no) red showing through.) 1/4 will get two red genes and be red.

So, in the next generation, both sexes will be like this:

3/8 solid black (1/8 all black, 1/4 with some red)
1/8 solid red
3/8 barred black and white
1/8 barred red and white

If you actually do this cross, I hope you tell us what colors you do get!

Awesome! Thanks for that. I would love to try this and see what happens. And I will definitely let you know how it goes. It'll take a while though, my chicks are 3 weeks old now and I will have to first breed the black sex links from my New Hampshires and Koekoeks before I can breed the sex links to eachother. I guess it will take almost 2 years before I have any results to show.

 

[junebuggena]

Just to show you just how much variety you can get when breeding black sexlinks, I'll share some photos of what I've gotten from breeding my black sexlink Easter Eggers.







All have the same black sexlink rooster for a father, and the same black sexlink hen for their mother. And this is only a fraction of the possible outcomes. There are more potential colorations that I haven't gotten yet.

 

[junebuggena]

About the color:

A Rooster from the "Black Sex Link" cross is barred black and white. The barring is dominant, but since he only has one gene for it (on one of his two "Z" sex chromosomes), he would pass the barring gene on to only half of his offspring, both male and female.

The base color is on one of the regular, non sex, chromosomes. Both the hen Black Sex LInk and the cock have one gene for red (recesssive) and one for black (dominant). Beause the black gene is dominant, that's what color the birds are. 3/4 of the next generation will get at least one gene for black and show the black color. (The 1/4 that get two black genes will probably have less (or no) red showing through.) 1/4 will get two red genes and be red.

So, in the next generation, both sexes will be like this:

3/8 solid black (1/8 all black, 1/4 with some red)
1/8 solid red
3/8 barred black and white
1/8 barred red and white

If you actually do this cross, I hope you tell us what colors you do get!

Not entirely correct. The black sexlink hen only has one base color gene, and that is red. The male has two genes for base color, one for red and one for SILVER. Black is caused by pattern genes and is not a base color. Both have a gene for Extended Black, but both may carry a columbian inhibitor from their Rhode Island Red or Production Red father. So half the female offspring will be red base color and the other half will be silver base color. Half the male offspring will be red base color, and half will be silver base color with red leakage. Barring inheritance will be about 50%. About 25% will be pure for Extended Black. About 50% will only have one copy of Extended Black, allowing for possible leakage, and 25% won't have the extended black pattern gene at all.

 

[chameleon]

Thanks @junebuggena , you have beautiful chickens. Can't wait to see what happens with mine.