White chick from 2 barred rock parents

[youngwildfreefamilyfarm]

Hello,

I just got my first hatch from a batch of hatchery barred rocks. I know that the coloration is not perfect on some of my hens and on my roosters. Today when my eggs hatched there is a completely white chick which was very unexpected. Can anyone tell me what could have caused this so that I can mitigate this in the future. Or possibly breed for it?


I have included some examples from my flock. Both roosters that could have fathered the white chick look like the one pictured. They are too white to be true barred rocks but do have some barring as well as some green feathers in tail and some cinnamoj

 

[TheDuckGuy]

The rooster in the last photo looks like a sex link!
I don't know much about genetics, but I do know someone who does!
@MysteryChicken? He/she has always been able to help me out in times of need!

Yes mystery chicken is good

 

[youngwildfreefamilyfarm]

Your rooster is a mix, & looks similar to my Buff Orpington/Barred rock rooster I hatched in the past to help with my project. Not saying that's what your rooster is. Mine was produced through a Sex-linked crossing of Buff Orpington rooster X Barred Rock hen.
View attachment 2732338Do you have pictures of your white chick? Do you have any White Plymouth Rocks, or Columbian Rocks?

The chick just hatched and is still damp, I’ll take a photo tomorrow. I only have barred rocks. I knew some had to be mixed as the roosters are not right. I have a couple hens that are kind of grey, the barring isn’t crisp at all. Most of the hens have good crisp barring but some also have a green sheen to their black (not sure that matters at all). We butchered our extra roosters but 3 of them were dark barred like the hens.
December 2020 we ordered 20 chicks. 10 were sexed as female, 10 were unsexed and we got a total of 6 roosters. 3 were too dark with green feathers and 3 were some version of the ones photographed. Too light with strange barring and green tail feathers. Do the mixes just present more in the roosters?

 

[youngwildfreefamilyfarm]

Since your rooster is mixed, the future offspring will also be mixes, & will produce odd colors.

In the future I plan to replace this rooster. Could I raise out chicks and continue to choose roosters and hens that look most correct to barred rocks?

 

[CrazyCochin]

Hello,

I just got my first hatch from a batch of hatchery barred rocks. I know that the coloration is not perfect on some of my hens and on my roosters. Today when my eggs hatched there is a completely white chick which was very unexpected. Can anyone tell me what could have caused this so that I can mitigate this in the future. Or possibly breed for it?


I have included some examples from my flock. Both roosters that could have fathered the white chick look like the one pictured. They are too white to be true barred rocks but do have some barring as well as some green feathers in tail and some cinnamoj

The rooster in the last photo looks like a sex link!
I don't know much about genetics, but I do know someone who does!
@MysteryChicken? He/she has always been able to help me out in times of need!

 

[youngwildfreefamilyfarm]

The rooster in the last photo looks like a sex link!
I don't know much about genetics, but I do know someone who does!
@MysteryChicken? He/she has always been able to help me out in times of need!

Thank you so much! I know only that barring can create sex linking. In barred rock chicks (true for my hatchery chicks that are the parents of my new hatch) the ones with a lot of white on the head were Roos. I did also have 3 from that same batch that were Roos and were barred just like the hens, but they were not light enough to be proper barred rock Roos

 

[youngwildfreefamilyfarm]

Wow!

I haven't ever done any pure breeding, so I wouldn't know much, we have just ended up with Barnyard mixes over the years, but I want to do selective breeding once our flock number goes down from 50+.

I got some wyondotte hens to do barnyard mixes but I love the idea of creating purebred barred rocks and selecting for correct color and form, so I certainly need to sort this out. I would love to have that many chickens

 

[youngwildfreefamilyfarm]

I love the wyandottes!
I was supposed to get a Blue laced red this year, but the feed store sold me a blue laced gold! But I am not bothered by it! She would still give off pretty babies, I plan to breed her to my Bantam Cochin and LF Buff Brahma crossed cockerel!

Thank you! But that many can be real work to keep up!

I got a mix, I know I have 4 Colombian but the others I’m not sure of yet. I don’t intend to breed them for specific colors but it will be fun to breed them and see what I get. Chicken genetics are so fascinating!
What colorations are you expecting from that mix?

 

[CrazyCochin]

I got a mix, I know I have 4 Colombian but the others I’m not sure of yet. I don’t intend to breed them for specific colors but it will be fun to breed them and see what I get. Chicken genetics are so fascinating!
What colorations are you expecting from that mix?

Wow! Sounds like a good mix! I love the Columbian!

I dont know, but here is my sunshine, Bootsie!

(He is my baby, that is why I call him my sunshine)
The BLG is still a little pullet, she has a long way to go before I can breed her!

 

[youngwildfreefamilyfarm]

Wow! Sounds like a good mix! I love the Columbian!

I dont know, but here is my sunshine, Bootsie!View attachment 2732332
(He is my baby, that is why I call him my sunshine)
The BLG is still a little pullet, she has a long way to go before I can breed her!

He is so beautiful! Can I see a picture of your pullet? I’ll take pictures of mine tomorrow. I’m hopeful I get a BLG or BLR in my batch because I really want at least one.