Buff Orpington Roo x Silver Laced Wyandotte chicks! Sex-linked?

[tviss711]

So we hatched out some eggs from our flock and I ended up with three (maybe four) that I know are Buff Orp Roo x our Silver Laced Wyandotte hen. Everything I have read about this pairing says they should be sex linked, but I can’t find anything with pictures of chicks or solid enough descriptions to help me discern what these might be, and some of them have even been conflicting.

They all look the same so hopefully they are pullets, but mostly I’m just curious. I adore them all.

They are a lemony yellow/gold with a black spot on their heads. I had another hatch out but she isn’t totally fluffy yet, and I can’t quite tell which of my hens she came from. I will update with a better picture in the morning. She has a little stripe by her eyes and appeared when wet to have more black in the back and feathers. Maybe another Wyandotte cross with a different expression of patterning?

Here are the three definite BO x Wyandotte

(The far right and far left are NOT the BOx Wyandotte, they are BO x Speckled Sussex and are a light orange) the front and second to right are the crosses in question. Hopefully I’ve captured as much of the patterning and colors as would be necessary but can take better pictures tomorrow morning. I’m actually shocked at myself that I didn’t take more pictures of them! If anyone is familiar with this cross let me know what you think! Cockerels or pullets or too early to tell?

Here’s the mystery one I’ll update with a better picture tomorrow morning. Dad is BO, but mom could be: SL Wyandotte, Barred Rock (though my understanding is any of her chicks should be mostly black??), or RIR. Maybe she will be easier to tell once she’s fluffed out!

You can see the spot on the head is quite dark, as is the back and there are little eyeliner marks (on both eyes).

All of them have been super friendly and come running up to my hand whenever I stick it in the brooder!

They are the remnant of the flock we lost 3 weeks ago to the neighbors dogs. They were fantastic birds, so I’m so glad to have been able to hatch some of their babies from the eggs we had left! Helps to have a blessing from the heartbreak.

 

[tviss711]

Updated picture, far left is the one that was recently hatched. The lemony ones with the spots on their heads are the ones in wondering about their gender? Does more orange one with more black mean female, where the yellow means male?

 

[thlayli]

If I had to guess, based on gold/silver sex-linking, I'm thinking you have two pullets and three cockerels. Upper left, lower middle, and upper right are male. The darker ones are female.

 

[tviss711]

If I had to guess, based on gold/silver sex-linking, I'm thinking you have two pullets and three cockerels. Upper left, lower middle, and upper right are male. The darker ones are female.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’ll keep one of the cockerels but I don’t think I can keep all three. I knew it was a possibility with hatching our own eggs, but makes sense!!! 50%, and I’ve got 6 chicks lol. Hopefully I can find them nice homes where they don’t end up in someone’s soup pot. I normally wouldn’t mind, but these ones are my babies’ babies, so I’d like to know they can find a soft landing somewhere. If they’re anything like their parents they should have an excellent temperament. My rooster Hawkeye was absolutely incredible and we were devastated to have lost him. Hopefully his sons will inherit his demeanor!

Two of the six chicks are from my SS hen, so as far as I know there is not sex linking between a BO and SS, but I’m hopeful they are female. The other orangey one is definitely from the Wyandotte which would make her a definite female, with the other three likely being males. One of the males is a bit more golden, so we will see, but definitely not as dark as the one with the most black.

 

[JedJackson]

If I had to guess, based on gold/silver sex-linking, I'm thinking you have two pullets and three cockerels. Upper left, lower middle, and upper right are male. The darker ones are female.

Yep! Exactly. Chicks with white down will be males, and chicks with a deeper brown/tan/red color will be females.

 

[labelo]

You're right--any BO x speckled sussex chicks won't be sex-linked. They'll all turn out buff colored, and they should look mostly like BO chicks (like the one in the middle of that bottom group pic). They'd also be mostly indistinguishable from any chicks from your RIR, but it seems like you're pretty confident you had 2 SS eggs, so I'd guess the two mostly solid reddish gold are those.

Wheaten E^Wh (like your BO) x partridge e^b (like wyandottes) often produce chicks with chick down somewhere in between wheaten and partridge--exactly like the reddish gold chick on the far bottom left of the group pic. I think you're right that she's a female BO x SLW.
You're also right that they are sex-linked, so males should look yellow (S/s split looks like a lemony/light yellow rather than pure silver), and I'd expect them to have some partial partridge patterning (especially on their head). All that to say, I think the 3 yellowy chicks with black spots on their heads are BO x SLW roos.

You're right than any chicks from your barred rock would turn out mostly black (with perhaps some yellow on their belly), so I don't think any of these are from a barred rock.

 

[tviss711]

You're right--any BO x speckled sussex chicks won't be sex-linked. They'll all turn out buff colored, and they should look mostly like BO chicks (like the one in the middle of that bottom group pic). They'd also be mostly indistinguishable from any chicks from your RIR, but it seems like you're pretty confident you had 2 SS eggs, so I'd guess the two mostly solid reddish gold are those.

Wheaten E^Wh (like your BO) x partridge e^b (like wyandottes) often produce chicks with chick down somewhere in between wheaten and partridge--exactly like the reddish gold chick on the far bottom left of the group pic. I think you're right that she's a female BO x SLW.
You're also right that they are sex-linked, so males should look yellow (S/s split looks like a lemony/light yellow rather than pure silver), and I'd expect them to have some partial partridge patterning (especially on their head). All that to say, I think the 3 yellowy chicks with black spots on their heads are BO x SLW roos.

You're right than any chicks from your barred rock would turn out mostly black (with perhaps some yellow on their belly), so I don't think any of these are from a barred rock.

My gut was right!
So I’ve got 3 cockerels and (hopefully) 3 pullets, so long as my BO x SS auburn looking babies are both girls. Their dad (my BO) was supposed to be a pullet from TSC, but blew his cover fairly quickly with the size of his comb and how large he was in comparison to his sister.

It will be so hard to decide which cockerel to keep, but I’m actually so glad to have a rooster that combination, I think they’ll have great temperaments and I’m excited to see them feather out. Should make some handsome looking Roos! My SLW was my Roos favorite lady, so he’d be proud of himself.

 

[Kjnannay]

So we hatched out some eggs from our flock and I ended up with three (maybe four) that I know are Buff Orp Roo x our Silver Laced Wyandotte hen. Everything I have read about this pairing says they should be sex linked, but I can’t find anything with pictures of chicks or solid enough descriptions to help me discern what these might be, and some of them have even been conflicting.

They all look the same so hopefully they are pullets, but mostly I’m just curious. I adore them all.

They are a lemony yellow/gold with a black spot on their heads. I had another hatch out but she isn’t totally fluffy yet, and I can’t quite tell which of my hens she came from. I will update with a better picture in the morning. She has a little stripe by her eyes and appeared when wet to have more black in the back and feathers. Maybe another Wyandotte cross with a different expression of patterning?

Here are the three definite BO x Wyandotte
View attachment 4044306
(The far right and far left are NOT the BOx Wyandotte, they are BO x Speckled Sussex and are a light orange) the front and second to right are the crosses in question. Hopefully I’ve captured as much of the patterning and colors as would be necessary but can take better pictures tomorrow morning. I’m actually shocked at myself that I didn’t take more pictures of them! If anyone is familiar with this cross let me know what you think! Cockerels or pullets or too early to tell?
View attachment 4044307

Here’s the mystery one I’ll update with a better picture tomorrow morning. Dad is BO, but mom could be: SL Wyandotte, Barred Rock (though my understanding is any of her chicks should be mostly black??), or RIR. Maybe she will be easier to tell once she’s fluffed out!
View attachment 4044308
You can see the spot on the head is quite dark, as is the back and there are little eyeliner marks (on both eyes).

All of them have been super friendly and come running up to my hand whenever I stick it in the brooder!

They are the remnant of the flock we lost 3 weeks ago to the neighbors dogs. They were fantastic birds, so I’m so glad to have been able to hatch some of their babies from the eggs we had left! Helps to have a blessing from the heartbreak.

We hatched 3 yellow with black spots on the heads.


Sweet chicks

 

[tviss711]

Just updating so maybe I can help someone in the future! Here are all the BO x SL Wyandotte babies at just shy of 4 weeks.
Cockerel 1 “Winchester” he is the biggest, and has the most black markings. Not sure if it will turn out to be proper lacing or just black bleeding markings but eager to see how he feathers out when more mature

Cockerel 2 “Colonel Potter” mostly white with some black on wings and tail

Cockerel 3 “Trapper” least markings, mostly only has black on tail feathers.

Compared to female feathering much darker/redder. She has more markings as well, the black is varied between the cockerels. She’s my only pullet so I don’t know if the markings would be as varied or not. One of her sisters didn’t hatch, but did have the black eye markings as well and more black feathering on her back when I inspected the egg.

Pullet 1 “Mabel” she also has different colored legs than her brothers which I found interesting. Hard to tell in the pictures but hers are more of a grey orange where the boys are more tan.

 

[SunriseChickers]

I absolutely adore your MASH themed names. I'm glad you have some little chicky treasures left from your previous flock. Such a sad loss, but at least there is a bit of a Silver Lining. They are beautiful!