Why Are These Chicks Black If The Father Is A White Plymouth Rock?

[Cyprus]

So the one that is half Cuckoo Maran is a male? All are they all males even though the mothers of some are not barred/cuckoo?

I saw that and it piqued my interest.
The EE could be either gender, but yes the cuckoo cross is male

 

[cmfarm]

Any with head spots are males.
Any without head spots could be either sex since with your nonbarred hens your not producing sex links.

You are right. Genetics get so jumbled up in my head. Since the male isn't barred they can only get that gene from their mother. I always need pictures to help me understand.

 

[Cyprus]

It is theoretically possible, and I suspect this is the case, that the father is recessive white over double barred. Probably a hatchery trick to be able to switch out breeders to produce more barreds or sex links.

If you ask me, he gave 1 copy of barring to all chicks. The chicks with the big, blotchy head spots are definitely males.

 

[Cyprus]

In the first picture I posted, there are two chicks in the front. Would the one on the left be a boy and the one on the right be a girl?

Sort of. What I can say is that the one on the right, with the blurry spot, is surely a male. The other one is anyone's guess, because we don't know who the mother is.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Oh h£ll, I wasn't thinking. You did say the rooster was a Plymouth rock didn't you?
When I had white rocks they were barred underneath.
Sorry for confusion/trouble I caused.

 

[nicalandia]

Yup. Lots of males

Not entirely true, Many lines of White Plymouth Rocks are basically Barred Rocks, that is to improve type. I see a few female chicks on that picture.

 

[Cyprus]

Not entirely true, Many lines of White Plymouth Rocks are basically Barred Rocks, that is to improve type. I see a few female chicks on that picture.

Yup, we eventually came to that conclusion.

 

[Cyprus]

Which ones? How can you tell? By the spots on their heads?

By the spots on their heads. But again, we have to definitively know who the mother of each chick is to be certain if it is a female.

The post from nicalandia would assume that the mother of those possibly female chicks was barred or cuckoo.

 

[nicalandia]

I think you've got that backwards. Black sexlinks come from a non-barred rooster bred to barred females (example, Rhode Island Red rooster with Barred Rock hen): so only the sons get barring (head spot), and the daughters are all black (no head spot). I don't see how you'd tell a male with one copy of barring from a female with one copy of barring.

Extended Black(Homozygous or Heterozygous ) Males will have a larger uneven heaspot that extends to the back of the head(that is why I referenced the black sex link video so you and everyone can see the E/eWh, B/b+ chicks, dot pay attention to the female black chicks without barring)


Barred Rock Chicks can be sexed at hatch with good accuracy because the female headspot are small even shaped that only stay at the top of the head.

Statistically speaking 50% of the following chicks are females, can you try to tell which one is female and which one are males?

Perhaps my vision is too sharp but I can tell which one is male and which one is female.

 

[NatJ]

Why the difference between Heterozygous barred males (B/b+) and Hemizygous barred females(B/-)? I suspect that it has to do with male vs female hormone levels at skin level, I suspect that Henny Feathering Barred males will look just like females but have not been able to find chicks of such genetics

I suppose that makes sense. If you ever do find henny feathered barred chicks, I will be interested in seeing how/if that works.