What potential color chicks will I have?

[TerryBowleg]

I have a rooster whose dad is a black australorp and whose mom is a barred rock.

I have a variety of hens: RIR, barred rock, black australorp, white leghorn, buff orpington, golden comet to name most of them

Is my only possibility of offspring colors barred and also all black?

 

[NatJ]

I have a rooster whose dad is a black australorp and whose mom is a barred rock.

I have a variety of hens: RIR, barred rock, black australorp, white leghorn, buff orpington, golden comet to name most of them

Is my only possibility of offspring colors barred and also all black?

You should get black chicks from any hen who shows some black (RIR, Barred Rock, Black Australorp.)

White Leghorn should give you white chicks, likely with a few black dots here and there.

Golden Comet should give white chicks (about half of them) and black chicks (the other half.)

Buff Orpington might give black chicks or might give white ones. If she gives black chicks, they may have quite a bit of leakage instead of looking solid black. Leakage could be silver/white or gold/red/brown.

For the ones that give white chicks, it is because they have a gene called Dominant White that turns black into white. (Leghorn gives it to every chick, Golden Comet only has one copy of that gene so she gives it to half of her chicks, Buff Orpington might have that gene or might not.)

If you have any blue hens, they will give blue to half of their chicks.


For all of those chick colors, half the chicks should have white barring, and half the chicks should have no barring. (Exception: from the Barred Rock, all sons will show barring, half of daughters will show barring, half of daughters will have no barring. And of course white barring will not be very obvious on white chickens.)

 

[TerryBowleg]

You should get black chicks from any hen who shows some black (RIR, Barred Rock, Black Australorp.)

White Leghorn should give you white chicks, likely with a few black dots here and there.

Golden Comet should give white chicks (about half of them) and black chicks (the other half.)

Buff Orpington might give black chicks or might give white ones. If she gives black chicks, they may have quite a bit of leakage instead of looking solid black. Leakage could be silver/white or gold/red/brown.

For the ones that give white chicks, it is because they have a gene called Dominant White that turns black into white. (Leghorn gives it to every chick, Golden Comet only has one copy of that gene so she gives it to half of her chicks, Buff Orpington might have that gene or might not.)

If you have any blue hens, they will give blue to half of their chicks.


For all of those chick colors, half the chicks should have white barring, and half the chicks should have no barring. (Exception: from the Barred Rock, all sons will show barring, half of daughters will show barring, half of daughters will have no barring. And of course white barring will not be very obvious on white chickens.)

Very cool. Thanks for the in depth response!

 

[TerryBowleg]

You should get black chicks from any hen who shows some black (RIR, Barred Rock, Black Australorp.)

White Leghorn should give you white chicks, likely with a few black dots here and there.

Golden Comet should give white chicks (about half of them) and black chicks (the other half.)

Buff Orpington might give black chicks or might give white ones. If she gives black chicks, they may have quite a bit of leakage instead of looking solid black. Leakage could be silver/white or gold/red/brown.

For the ones that give white chicks, it is because they have a gene called Dominant White that turns black into white. (Leghorn gives it to every chick, Golden Comet only has one copy of that gene so she gives it to half of her chicks, Buff Orpington might have that gene or might not.)

If you have any blue hens, they will give blue to half of their chicks.


For all of those chick colors, half the chicks should have white barring, and half the chicks should have no barring. (Exception: from the Barred Rock, all sons will show barring, half of daughters will show barring, half of daughters will have no barring. And of course white barring will not be very obvious on white chickens.)

Another question…my rooster is supposed to be from a black australorp rooster over a barred rock hen. That’s what he looks like, a barred rock rooster, but he’s darker than the normal barred rock rooster because of the black australorp in him. I got to looking at his hackle feathers today, and he’s got a couple of hackle feathers with a little red on them. Is that normal for a rooster or does that mean his parents weren’t fully black australorp over barred rock? You can see a reddish feather in the close up pic

 

[NatJ]

my rooster is supposed to be from a black australorp rooster over a barred rock hen. That’s what he looks like, a barred rock rooster, but he’s darker than the normal barred rock rooster because of the black australorp in him.

He is darker than a usual Barred Rock rooster because he only has one copy of the barring gene. A purebred Barred Rock rooster would have two copies of the barring gene, which causes them to have more white.

That is why your rooster will give white barring to half his chicks. A purebred Barred Rock rooster (2 copies of the barring gene) would give barring to all his chicks.

I got to looking at his hackle feathers today, and he’s got a couple of hackle feathers with a little red on them. Is that normal for a rooster or does that mean his parents weren’t fully black australorp over barred rock? You can see a reddish feather in the close up pic

I do not know for sure. A little bit of color leakage like that could be possible even if you are correct about his parents. Or it could mean there is some other crossing in his ancestry.

If you hatch eggs from the Rhode Island Red hens, you might get the expected results (black chicks, half of them with white barring.) Or depending on what genes your rooster has, you might get black chicks (half of the total) and red or white chicks (the other half.) That would be if the rooster has the genes to allow some other color (not black) on large amounts of the body. If that happens, you will know that he was not from a cross of the pure breeds you thought; but you would have chicks in more colors than you expected.

 

[TerryBowleg]

You should get black chicks from any hen who shows some black (RIR, Barred Rock, Black Australorp.)

White Leghorn should give you white chicks, likely with a few black dots here and there.

Golden Comet should give white chicks (about half of them) and black chicks (the other half.)

Buff Orpington might give black chicks or might give white ones. If she gives black chicks, they may have quite a bit of leakage instead of looking solid black. Leakage could be silver/white or gold/red/brown.

For the ones that give white chicks, it is because they have a gene called Dominant White that turns black into white. (Leghorn gives it to every chick, Golden Comet only has one copy of that gene so she gives it to half of her chicks, Buff Orpington might have that gene or might not.)

If you have any blue hens, they will give blue to half of their chicks.


For all of those chick colors, half the chicks should have white barring, and half the chicks should have no barring. (Exception: from the Barred Rock, all sons will show barring, half of daughters will show barring, half of daughters will have no barring. And of course white barring will not be very obvious on white chickens.)

I hatched 6 eggs! I don’t know which eggs belonged to what hens but here’s how they came out

 

[NatJ]

I hatched 6 eggs! I don’t know which eggs belonged to what hens but here’s how they came out

Those are really cute chicks

It looks like one or maybe two blues with white barring, 3-4 black with white barring, and one black without white barring. (Light spot on top or back of the head means they will have white barring in the feathers. I think one of the black chicks has an unspotted head.)

 

[TerryBowleg]

Those are really cute chicks

It looks like one or maybe two blues with white barring, 3-4 black with white barring, and one black without white barring. (Light spot on top or back of the head means they will have white barring in the feathers. I think one of the black chicks has an unspotted head.)

This is exactly what I’m seeing too! I’m curious what blue with white barring will look like

 

[NatJ]

This is exactly what I’m seeing too! I’m curious what blue with white barring will look like

Blue Cuckoo Marans are blue with white barring, if you want to do an online search for photos.

The white is not as obvious on blue as it would be on black.

 

[TerryBowleg]

Blue Cuckoo Marans are blue with white barring, if you want to do an online search for photos.

The white is not as obvious on blue as it would be on black.

Nice! Here are Blue Plymouth Rock pictures I found. You think something like this?