Fun Genetic Experiment! Hybrid Crosses!

[Hybridroo]

Hi all, I haven't posted for several months but I wanted to give updates on my new flock of hybrid chicks!
I hope you all find this interesting as you never know what you will get with random crosses.

Parents consisted of 3 chickens: 1 wyandotte hen, 1 barred rock hen, and 1 hybrid barred rock rooster

The rooster is a barred rock cross, but I don't know what the other half is. Got him as a chick from craigslist and the owner had many breeds roaming around. Sickle feathers are iridescent green, feathered shanks, wing and hackle feathers are slightly golden with gold sheen in direct sunlight. Occasional rust red feathers on hackle. Some people thought that the other parent for this rooster must have been a red or gold-based coloring.


Unfortunately i never took photos of the barred rock or wyandotte hens. The barred rock hen looked standard for the breed. The wyandotte looked somewhat rough and disheveled compared to photos online. I received it fully grown from a friend and even then it looked kind of ugly.

Anyway, here are the results from the crosses of the one rooster and these 2 hens:















All of the solid black ones are Barred rock x Wyandotte. Interestingly, both the hen and rooster had yellow feet. These chickens have solid black feet.

I had 2 golden colored chicks in the whole batch, which I believe are both from the barred rock rooster and barred rock hen. I based this off of egg shape differences between the hens. These are my favorite chicks because they must have recessive genes that the rooster had from his unknown half, hence the golden feathers he had.


Here's my favorite chicken of them all, with photos of it as a chick and current status. Apparently result of the 2 barred rocks? Looks nothing like a barred rock chick.









For the last photo, I wasn't sure if golden laced wyandottes look like this? This would surprise me because the egg it hatched from looked like the barred rock hen's eggs.

Let me know what you all think of the crosses with regards to gender or breed. I l don't know if i'll figure out what the other half of the rooster was, but maybe someone here has a good guess.

 

[junebuggena]

Your gold birds came from the Wyandottes. The Barred rock hens are silver based which is dominant. The barred Rocks would produce barred chicks mostly, with a chance of a few solid black pullets. You're rooster's pea comb and the gold chick's feathered legs indicate that there is probably some Brahma in him.

 

[Hybridroo]

So it looks like I had the eggs mixed up. I thought wyandottes had eggs with a more pointed top and barred rocks had a more rounded top on the egg. Interestingly, all of my new barred rock chicks came from rounded top eggs, as well as the golden chicks, and all of the solid black chicks came from pointed top eggs. It would be interesting if the rooster had Brahma in him, because he was fairly aggressive and would attack. I thought brahmas and barred rocks were laid back overall.

 

[junebuggena]

Shape is more hen specific than breed specific. Both breeds lay brown eggs that are similar is shade. The only way to be sure which egg came from which hen, is to collect right after she lays it and mark it accordingly. I have Barred Rocks, Australorps, and a Jersey Giant. I can not tell just by looking which breed laid which. One of my Rocks lays an almost pinkish egg, and one lays a light tan. Apart from those two, I can't tell the eggs apart.

 

[donrae]

Does your rooster have feathered legs? Or did they come from the momma?

 

[Hybridroo]

The hens did not have feathered shanks. Looks like it all came from the rooster.

 

[blkjak]

I have a young roo that looks very similar to yours. I bought hatching eggs from a local guy who said he had barred rock roosters with barred rock hens and leghorn hens. This roo came from a light brown egg indicating barred rock mom but he must have something else in his flock for gold/rust and iredescent feathering to come thru. I will try and get a pic. Nice looking chicks!

 

[Hybridroo]

So I just looked at more Wyandotte chick pictures online. They match the pattern of my chicks. Looks like the mystery is partially solved! So the golden chicks are Wyandotte x Barred Rock. I guess the all-black ones are still unknown...

 

[Hybridroo]

Almost forgot to mention..... I had a Silver-Laced Wyandotte. So I find it interesting that this chick looks like a Gold-Laced Wyandotte! So silver-laced must be recessive??