AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Black Australorp rooster over Light Sussex hens gives Black/grey pullet chicks and white/yellow cockerel chicks...correct basically, right?

Is the opposite true?

If I put a Light Sussex rooster over a solid black hen, would the pullet chicks be white/yellow?

What about Light Sussex over a blue hen, such as an Orpington? White/yellow pullet chicks?


Thanks in advance. Chickens hatching this week and I hope to be able to sex them right away.


Edit: Changed subject to assist future searchers.

And, finally, one for a month or so from now. Light Sussex rooster over Penny.

I dont think it would work you need a gold based cock over a silver based hen

Thanks for the reply.

I did a little more research after posting the question and you are spot on.

The sex-link using black or Red over Light Sussex does not work in reverse.


...and so that this thread may help the next time someone likes me tries to find the answer via Google...

The following matings will result in Buff or Brown pullet chicks and white or yellow cockerel chicks. In some cases the chicks will also have blacks marks.
-- Rhode Island Red cockerel or rooster over a Light Sussex hen or pullet.
-- Buff (eg. Orpington) cockerel or rooster over a Light Sussex hen or pullet
-- Brown (eg. Leghorn) cockerel or rooster over a Light Sussex hen or pullet

Reversing the matings DOES NOT work. This is because both pullet and cockerel chicks will inherit a (dominant) silver allele from a Light Sussex (S/S) father resulting in a similar appearance upon hatching. As they feather up sexing may be possible as "gold leakage" will be visible in the cockerels. Since they cannot be reliably sexed (by mere mortals such as most of us) at hatching this is not a true sex-link.

The following mating should produce grey or brown toned cuckoo or barred cockerel chicks and solid brown or black pullet chicks.
Buff Orpington rooster or cockerel over a cuckoo or barred (eg. barred Plymouth Rock) hen or pullet.

The following mating should produce grey toned cuckoo or barred cockerel chicks and solid blue or black pullet chicks.
Blue Orpington rooster or cockerel over a cuckoo or barred (eg. barred Plymouth Rock) hen or pullet.

I don't know what the result is of reversing the latter two matings. I don't have any cuckoo or barred males of any breed, so it's not important to me right now...but it may be to others, so if you know, please share.

Additionally, the research I did revealed that solid black pullet chicks are the result of mating the following breeds of roosters with barred plymouth rock hens.
Black Australorp, Rhode Island Red, Barnevelders, Sussex and even Ancona amongst others.

Sussex was given as an example of a Silver Columbian, so I'm sure it includes Light Sussex, so maybe at some time in the future I may put a Light Sussex boy over a cuckoo/barred girl.

And, if anyone has read this far and is prepared to answer another question (or simply confirm something), here it is.
Scenario: Light Sussex rooster. Light Sussex hens. Barred Plymouth Rock hen. Eggs set.
Results: Pure light sussex chicks -- White/yellow. X pullets -- black. X cockerels - barred, grey tones.
Correct?

I can fairly accurately sex pure LS within four days, so if the above is correct, I need not keep (and feed) excess cockerels from the above pen (which does not yet exist).

Update: Are the X cockerels in the scenario above supposed to be barred? Or, should they be black with a white patch on the back of their head like those from a Black Australorp over a Barred Rock?

The sex chromosomes work differently in birds. Basically the hen has a single sex chromosome, letc call it X. The rooster has two, therefore he is XX.

All genes on the X chromosome get expressed in the hen, and only the dominant or homozygous recessive genes get expressed in the rooster.

Basically this means that male progeny inherit a X from the hen and an X from the rooster, whereas the female can only inherit the X from her sire.

For crosses involving the Barring gene.
In a cross where the hen is barred, then her sons will inherit the barring gene from her and her daughters will inherit whatever the rooster has. So if the rooster is coloured (say black) and non-barred, then the female progeny will be black non-barred and the males will be barred.

You should get a white spot on the head of the male progeny because that is associated with barring.

For crosses involving Gold and Silver base colour.
In a cross where the hen is silver and the rooster is gold. The male progeny will inherit the silver colour and the females will inherit gold.

Can you please explain how to do this?

Yes love to know also

It would be good to know for me also as I can sex any bird

You do need help