I have a flock of only sex-linked chickens. This means that you can tell their sex at hatching. I have a sex-linked cockrel and want to breed him to my sex-linked pullets eventually. However, not all the pullets are the same breed despite all being sex-linked. Will the chicks be sex-linked if let's say, my male Bielefelder breeds with a female Crested Cream Legbar (both sex linked breeds)?
This is a great question! Since you have chickens already you probably understand what sexual dimorphism is, but on the off chance someone interested in chickens reads this I'm going to start by explaining the basics.
Sexual dimorphism is when the male and female of any given species look different from each other. Sexual dimorphism can be present from birth or develop as a creature matures. It's the reason why male lions have manes and female lions don't. It's also the reason why male news anchors get hair plugs while female news anchors get breast implants.
For poultry owners sexual dimorphism can be extremely important as it can be difficult to tell the sex of a bird. Males and females tend to have a single opening (the vent) for both reproduction and passing waste, so you can't just peer between their legs. There's also the small matter of roosters growing up to crow, which can be a huge problem for backyard chicken farmers who aren't allowed a rooster within city limits. In short, being able to tell what sex your chicks are from day one can be vital for some poultry farmers.
This is what led to sex-linked chicks. There are two varieties of sex-linked genetics used to determine what the ratio of male-to-female birds is in any given hatching. One sex-linked trait is coloration. In breeds where the coloration is linked to the sex of the bird the male and female chicks will look differently from hatching.
The second way to determine sex upon hatching is by using wing feather genetics. In some chicken breeds the males and females grow in their wing feathers at different speeds, and so the sex of the chicks can be determined by observing the growth of the primary feathers as they come in.
This is an example of a sex-link that results in different colored chicks.
These chicks are being sexed using primary feather growth.
Now to actually answer your question!
Outside of a few heritage breeds, sex-link chickens do not breed true. What this means is that certain sex-link chicks can only be achieved by breeding a rooster with specific coloration to a hen with a different coloration (or vice versa). Color sex-link chickens usually have one parent with the barred coloration since this is the coloration type that most reliably produces sexually dimorphic chicks when crossed with a solid color.
Here are some gene charts to show inheritance of the different genes.
Long story short--
Sex link chicks are not a breed unto themselves. They are almost always hybrids, and will not breed true. This means that you will not get sexually dimorphic chicks by breeding a sex link chick x another sex link chick.
You will have to recreate the original breeding. For your Cream Legbars this would be a Legbar x Plymouth Rock breeding. Again, a barred breed is the basis for most sex link chicks because it causes the white head spot/lack of a headspot that is usually used to determine sex.
I hope this helped! This is just scratching the surface of sex-link genetics in chickens.
Thanks, I was curious what would happen. I have female Bielefelders which will obviously breed with my only male Bielefelder, but I have Crested Cream Legbars and ISA Browns who will also breed with him. Since chickens tend to share nest boxes until one becomes broody, I was wondering how the mixed breed chicks might turn out because I would only be able to say who the mother was in the CCL case and it would be more ambiguous for the ISAs and Bielefelders.
Thanks, I was curious what would happen. I have female Bielefelders which will obviously breed with my only male Bielefelder, but I have Crested Cream Legbars and ISA Browns who will also breed with him. Since chickens tend to share nest boxes until one becomes broody, I was wondering how the mixed breed chicks might turn out because I would only be able to say who the mother was in the CCL case and it would be more ambiguous for the ISAs and Bielefelders.
I've heard good things about Bielefelders, but haven't had any. I started with Auracanas, which is basically jumping in at the deep end of chicken genetics. A True & Honest Auracana is rumpless and tufted. The genetics for both of these mutations can be lethal, so the hatches are tiny and the chicks require a lot of babying.
I gave up on them and now I just have a barnyard mix of everything from White Austras to Jersey Giants. Easier to work with when you're running an incubator, IMHO.
Unfortunately the only way you'll likely be sure of the parentage of any given chick would be isolating the hen and then marking her eggs if you wanted to give them to a different hen to sit on. A recently mated hen will lay fertile eggs for about 2 weeks so don't be afraid to crate them. Your biggest problem will be that hens don't like laying on wire and often stop laying when caged.
I've heard good things about Bielefelders, but haven't had any. I started with Auracanas, which is basically jumping in at the deep end of chicken genetics. A True & Honest Auracana is rumpless and tufted. The genetics for both of these mutations can be lethal, so the hatches are tiny and the chicks require a lot of babying.
I gave up on them and now I just have a barnyard mix of everything from White Austras to Jersey Giants. Easier to work with when you're running an incubator, IMHO.
Unfortunately the only way you'll likely be sure of the parentage of any given chick would be isolating the hen and then marking her eggs if you wanted to give them to a different hen to sit on. A recently mated hen will lay fertile eggs for about 2 weeks so don't be afraid to crate them. Your biggest problem will be that hens don't like laying on wire and often stop laying when caged.
I would sort of know with the CCL because they lay blue eggs and that Bielefelders and ISAs lay cream to brown eggs.
I am a huge fangirl of ISA Browns. They are the sweetest chickens. Very human friendly and no flock drama and lay very reliably. My CCLs were sort of an accident because I just picked them out for fun out of a straight run Easter Egger chick bucket at TSC. They appear to be female and I was surprised to learn about their breed and how uncommon they were. I was just doing some equivalent of IRL shitposting buying them. I was fully expecting them to be male and something I didn't want, but turned out the opposite. I have not had my Bielefelders long but they are by far the quietest set of chicks I have had and very curious and tame even at their young age.
This is a great question! Since you have chickens already you probably understand what sexual dimorphism is, but on the off chance someone interested in chickens reads this I'm going to start by explaining the basics.
Sexual dimorphism is when the male and female of any given species look different from each other. Sexual dimorphism can be present from birth or develop as a creature matures. It's the reason why male lions have manes and female lions don't. It's also the reason why male news anchors get hair plugs while female news anchors get breast implants.
For poultry owners sexual dimorphism can be extremely important as it can be difficult to tell the sex of a bird. Males and females tend to have a single opening (the vent) for both reproduction and passing waste, so you can't just peer between their legs. There's also the small matter of roosters growing up to crow, which can be a huge problem for backyard chicken farmers who aren't allowed a rooster within city limits. In short, being able to tell what sex your chicks are from day one can be vital for some poultry farmers.
This is what led to sex-linked chicks. There are two varieties of sex-linked genetics used to determine what the ratio of male-to-female birds is in any given hatching. One sex-linked trait is coloration. In breeds where the coloration is linked to the sex of the bird the male and female chicks will look differently from hatching.
The second way to determine sex upon hatching is by using wing feather genetics. In some chicken breeds the males and females grow in their wing feathers at different speeds, and so the sex of the chicks can be determined by observing the growth of the primary feathers as they come in.
View attachment 3362620This is an example of a sex-link that results in different colored chicks.
Outside of a few heritage breeds, sex-link chickens do not breed true. What this means is that certain sex-link chicks can only be achieved by breeding a rooster with specific coloration to a hen with a different coloration (or vice versa). Color sex-link chickens usually have one parent with the barred coloration since this is the coloration type that most reliably produces sexually dimorphic chicks when crossed with a solid color.
Here are some gene charts to show inheritance of the different genes.
Sex link chicks are not a breed unto themselves. They are almost always hybrids, and will not breed true. This means that you will not get sexually dimorphic chicks by breeding a sex link chick x another sex link chick.
You will have to recreate the original breeding. For your Cream Legbars this would be a Legbar x Plymouth Rock breeding. Again, a barred breed is the basis for most sex link chicks because it causes the white head spot/lack of a headspot that is usually used to determine sex.
I hope this helped! This is just scratching the surface of sex-link genetics in chickens.
