What Would Their Chicks Look Like? (#3)

[SwampPrincessChick]

If I bred these two together, what appearance would their offspring have? Jasper is my Old English Game Bantam mixed cockerel, and Quartz is my Silver Sebright pullet.

@NatJ
@Amer
@pipdzipdnreadytogo

@SwampQueenChick

 

[MysteryChicken]

Pattern would look like these Red JungleFowl/Golden Sebright cross cockerels.
Incomplete Laced, half Spangled.

 

[NatJ]

Coming back to this post, I have a question! Why exactly would their chicks be sex-linked and how do you know? How would the genetics come into play with that?

The gold/silver genes are on the Z sex chromosome.
Females have ZW (one Z that can have a gene for gold or silver, one W that makes her female.)
Males have ZZ (can have two genes for gold, or two for silver, or one of each.)

Silver is considered dominant. When a rooster has both gold and silver, he looks mostly silver. That includes silver (white) feathers when young, but as he matures the "silver" feathers may look a bit yellowish (called "golden" by some people, which looks enough like the word "gold" to be horribly confusing). But he still won't have the rich red/gold colors that you can get in gold hens or in roosters that have two copies of the gold gene.

When you breed two chickens:
--the male gives one Z chromosome to each chick
--the female gives Z to some chicks (males) and W to some other chicks (makes them female)

To make sexlinks, you need a male with the recessive trait (gold, or not-barred, or chocolate, or various other genes.) Because he shows the recessive trait, you know he cannot be carrying the dominant gene (if he had it, he would show it.)

You need a female with the dominant trait (gold or barred or not-chocolate or whatever.) Because she only has one Z chromosome, she cannot be carrying any other version of that trait.

When you breed them, the male gives his recessive trait to all the chicks, because it's the only thing he has to give them.
The female gives her dominant trait to her sons (the Z chromosome), and she gives W to her daughters (makes them female, doesn't have any of the genes you would get on a Z chromosome.)

So the daughters have a Z chromosome from their father (recessive trait) and a W chromosome from their mother (makes them female.) The daughters show the recessive trait (gold, or not-barred, or chocolate, or whatever other trait you are dealing with.)

The sons have two Z chromosomes: one from the father (recessive trait) and one from the mother (dominant trait.) They show the dominant trait (silver, or barring, or not-chocolate, or whatever else is involved.)

When the father and mother have the same traits, of course the chicks show them too. In the example with your rooster and hen, neither one of them has barring. So all the chicks are pure for not-barred. So the gold/silver difference is the only on that will matter on their Z chromosomes.

A Delaware hen has both silver and barring (both on the only Z chromosome she has.) If you crossed a Delaware hen with your rooster, you would get daughters that have gold and no barring, and sons that have both silver AND barring.

When I talk about chickens being "gold," I mean they have the gold gene. Other genes can make some changes in how it looks: the Mahogany gene makes gold into a dark red, the Cream gene makes gold into a light yellow, there are probably quite a few other genes that make small adjustments to the color but don't have names of their own. The darker the "gold" color on sexlink chicks, the more they look different than silver chicks, and the easier they are to sex. Likewise, the less black in the chick down, the easier it is to see the gold/silver differences. Rhode Island Reds are often used as the father of sexlink chicks, because they have a nice rich red and not much black, which means their chicks often have those same easy-to-sex details.

Any chicken has genes for gold or silver (or both in some roosters.) But when a chicken is black all over, you cannot see the gold or silver. If the black is changed to blue or splash or chocolate or lavender or white, you still cannot see the gold/silver difference. (Blue and splash are cased by the blue gene, chocolate and lavender by genes with the same name as the color, white by Dominant White that turns black into white.) So you can only make useful gold/silver sexlinks with chickens that have the right genes (gold males, silver females) and that produce chicks where you can see the gold vs. silver difference in their down.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

If I bred these two together, what appearance would their offspring have?

I believe they'll be sex linked offspring at hatch with pullet chicks being gold and cockerel chicks being silver.

They should have rose combs.. if any are straight then the hen is heterozygous. (for rose comb)

Sorry I don't have more information.. and also please wait for or get verification, as I'm quite novice to genetics and my memory is spotty.. but still enjoy the practice.

Now I see you already tagged some heavy hitters.. I always look forward to the replies!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yes, they would be sexlinked (golden males that look silvery at hatch, gold females) and have rose combs, assuming your Sebright is pure for that trait. Sometimes Sebrights carry a recessive gene for not-rose combs, so it's possible some of their offspring will have single combs as well if that is the case.

You should see incomplete lacing in the plumage of all of the offspring, similar to the pictures above. The females should be a gold sort of color, but the males should be more whitish-yellow.

Should make for some very pretty birds!

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Pattern would look like these Red JungleFowl/Golden Sebright cross cockerels.
Incomplete Laced, half Spangled.
View attachment 3759469View attachment 3759472

Yes, they would be sexlinked (golden males that look silvery at hatch, gold females) and have rose combs, assuming your Sebright is pure for that trait. Sometimes Sebrights carry a recessive gene for not-rose combs, so it's possible some of their offspring will have single combs as well if that is the case.

You should see incomplete lacing in the plumage of all of the offspring, similar to the pictures above. The females should be a gold sort of color, but the males should be more whitish-yellow.

Should make for some very pretty birds!

Thank you both! Yes, Quartz does have rose comb, but it is rather small. The picture in the post was when she was younger, her comb had developed more since then.

 

[NatJ]

Interesting! Does that mean some of the offspring of Jasper and Quartz would have rose combs, while the others would have single combs?

Maybe, maybe not.

If the Sebright has one gene for rose comb and one for not-rose comb, then half the chicks will have rose combs and half will have single combs.

If the Sebright has two genes for rose comb, all the chicks will have rose combs.

We just cannot tell by looking, whether that Sebright has one gene or two genes for rose comb. So you won't know for sure until you hatch some chicks.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Silver Female X Gold/Red Male = Gold/Red Females, & Silver, or Gold Silver Split Males.

Female chicks would have an orangy color too them at hatch, & Males would be White, or Yellowish White at hatch.

Here's a Sebright/Red JungleFowl cross chick, but this is purely gold/red.
View attachment 3774375
Chick is dark with a brownish gold face. Apologies the picture isn't great.

Silver is sexlinked.

Females can only be Either Silver, or Gold but not both. Think like Barring, with females only having 1 copy.

Males can be both Gold, & Silver, or just Silver, or Gold.
But in the case of sexlinking with silver female, Males will only be Silver, or Silver/Gold split.

The gold/silver genes are on the Z sex chromosome.
Females have ZW (one Z that can have a gene for gold or silver, one W that makes her female.)
Males have ZZ (can have two genes for gold, or two for silver, or one of each.)

Silver is considered dominant. When a rooster has both gold and silver, he looks mostly silver. That includes silver (white) feathers when young, but as he matures the "silver" feathers may look a bit yellowish (called "golden" by some people, which looks enough like the word "gold" to be horribly confusing). But he still won't have the rich red/gold colors that you can get in gold hens or in roosters that have two copies of the gold gene.

When you breed two chickens:
--the male gives one Z chromosome to each chick
--the female gives Z to some chicks (males) and W to some other chicks (makes them female)

To make sexlinks, you need a male with the recessive trait (gold, or not-barred, or chocolate, or various other genes.) Because he shows the recessive trait, you know he cannot be carrying the dominant gene (if he had it, he would show it.)

You need a female with the dominant trait (gold or barred or not-chocolate or whatever.) Because she only has one Z chromosome, she cannot be carrying any other version of that trait.

When you breed them, the male gives his recessive trait to all the chicks, because it's the only thing he has to give them.
The female gives her dominant trait to her sons (the Z chromosome), and she gives W to her daughters (makes them female, doesn't have any of the genes you would get on a Z chromosome.)

So the daughters have a Z chromosome from their father (recessive trait) and a W chromosome from their mother (makes them female.) The daughters show the recessive trait (gold, or not-barred, or chocolate, or whatever other trait you are dealing with.)

The sons have two Z chromosomes: one from the father (recessive trait) and one from the mother (dominant trait.) They show the dominant trait (silver, or barring, or not-chocolate, or whatever else is involved.)

When the father and mother have the same traits, of course the chicks show them too. In the example with your rooster and hen, neither one of them has barring. So all the chicks are pure for not-barred. So the gold/silver difference is the only on that will matter on their Z chromosomes.

A Delaware hen has both silver and barring (both on the only Z chromosome she has.) If you crossed a Delaware hen with your rooster, you would get daughters that have gold and no barring, and sons that have both silver AND barring.

When I talk about chickens being "gold," I mean they have the gold gene. Other genes can make some changes in how it looks: the Mahogany gene makes gold into a dark red, the Cream gene makes gold into a light yellow, there are probably quite a few other genes that make small adjustments to the color but don't have names of their own. The darker the "gold" color on sexlink chicks, the more they look different than silver chicks, and the easier they are to sex. Likewise, the less black in the chick down, the easier it is to see the gold/silver differences. Rhode Island Reds are often used as the father of sexlink chicks, because they have a nice rich red and not much black, which means their chicks often have those same easy-to-sex details.

Any chicken has genes for gold or silver (or both in some roosters.) But when a chicken is black all over, you cannot see the gold or silver. If the black is changed to blue or splash or chocolate or lavender or white, you still cannot see the gold/silver difference. (Blue and splash are cased by the blue gene, chocolate and lavender by genes with the same name as the color, white by Dominant White that turns black into white.) So you can only make useful gold/silver sexlinks with chickens that have the right genes (gold males, silver females) and that produce chicks where you can see the gold vs. silver difference in their down.

Thank you both for the replies! Genetics is interesting and I cannot wait to find out what their chicks are going to look like so I can get a better idea of these genes!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Henny feathering is autosomal and dominant from my understanding, so chicks of either sex should inherit it from her if she has it. However, hatchery Sebrights often lack the gene or are not pure for it, so you may or may not see it in her offspring.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I believe they'll be sex linked offspring at hatch with pullet chicks being gold and cockerel chicks being silver.

They should have rose combs.. if any are straight then the hen is heterozygous. (for rose comb)

Sorry I don't have more information.. and also please wait for or get verification, as I'm quite novice to genetics and my memory is spotty.. but still enjoy the practice.

Now I see you already tagged some heavy hitters.. I always look forward to the replies!

Thank you, that would be awesome to know their gender at hatch!