Looking for a non-patterned red (gold) feathered breed that lays white eggs

[MaeIstrom]

I'd like to create a flock of silver and barred hens under a red rooster to get both red and black sex links so something like a rhode island red would be ideal but I'd also like the chicks to be genuine easter eggers that could lay white, brown, green or blue and the only way to do that is a rooster with no brown egg genes and I can't think of any breed with red feathers that doesn't lay brown eggs. The brown leghorn is the closest thing that comes to mind but my understanding of black sexlinks is the cross needs to be between a barred female and pure black or red rooster with no patterns. Can anyone think of a breed that might fit the bill?

 

[AinaWGSD]

Brown leghorn would be just fine for creating black sexlinks. Barred is generally extended black base, which is dominant over pretty much all other colors, so female F1 crosses would be black at hatch. You can use pretty much any non-barred rooster to create sex links except white. Both dominant white and recessive white can cover barring, in which case you could hatch both male and female barred (if rooster is single barred both sexes could also be non-barred).

 

[Amer]

Black sexlinks do not need a solid colored bird to work.
Gold duckwing (light brown) Leghorns would work for a sexlinked cross, the white headspot would still show up on the males.

However, buff and red Leghorns exist but they are rare.

 

[Amer]

Additionally, a duckwing variety like that is much handier to use for red sexlinks because with a lot of varieties the gold and silver are actually quite difficult to tell apart (for example: black or wheaten.)

 

[MaeIstrom]

Additionally, a duckwing variety like that is much handier to use for red sexlinks because with a lot of varieties the gold and silver are actually quite difficult to tell apart (for example: black or wheaten.)

Yes I've only just realized the silver leghorn looks nothing like the white bird I'd envisioned. I'm hoping a silver leghorn roo over black or lavender araucanas will give me hens that can be used to make red sexlinks. Seems like the catalana would be ideal if they were available in Australia. As it is I'm struggling to find even a red or buff leghorn breeder, I've found one facebook video purporting to show red leghorn chicks and they look white to me. I've bred Araucanas with varying degrees of wheaten but an entirely red bird is frustratingly elusive.

 

[Amer]

Yes I've only just realized the silver leghorn looks nothing like the white bird I'd envisioned. I'm hoping a silver leghorn roo over black or lavender araucanas will give me hens that can be used to make red sexlinks. Seems like the catalana would be ideal if they were available in Australia. As it is I'm struggling to find even a red or buff leghorn breeder, I've found one facebook video purporting to show red leghorn chicks and they look white to me. I've bred Araucanas with varying degrees of wheaten but an entirely red bird is frustratingly elusive.

I wouldn't cross him with black based hens. Heterozygous for extended black chicks only have a small area that might be red or white enough to sex

For example, these chicks have a Buckeye father and blue EE mother.
Evidentially, EE was heterozygous for extended black and duckwing. However, only half her chicks would be useful for red sexlinks if she were silver based.

 

[MaeIstrom]

I wouldn't cross him with black based hens. Heterozygous for extended black chicks only have a small area that might be red or white enough to sexView attachment 4086414
For example, these chicks have a Buckeye father and blue EE mother.
Evidentially, EE was heterozygous for extended black and duckwing. However, only half her chicks would be useful for res sexlinks if she were silver based.

I've been trying to wrap my head around this example for a few days and I can't quite figure it out. I think what you're saying is the mother had 1 duckwing and 1 extended black and she's only passing on the extended black to her daughter which would mean it's on the female (w) chromosome? And the extended black is overriding the the duckwing?
At any rate I picked up a silver duckwing leghorn at an auction today (picture attached). I'm thinking of crossing him to some hyline browns. I believe that between his silver and the hyline's dominant white I should get completely white females from this pairing and if I cross those females with a pure red rooster I should get females with red where this rooster has white. Alternatively if I cross them to a brown leghorn I should get golden duckwing females and silver duckwing males.

 

[Amer]

I've been trying to wrap my head around this example for a few days and I can't quite figure it out. I think what you're saying is the mother had 1 duckwing and 1 extended black and she's only passing on the extended black to her daughter which would mean it's on the female (w) chromosome? And the extended black is overriding the the duckwing?
At any rate I picked up a silver duckwing leghorn at an auction today (picture attached). I'm thinking of crossing him to some hyline browns. I believe that between his silver and the hyline's dominant white I should get completely white females from this pairing and if I cross those females with a pure red rooster I should get females with red where this rooster has white. Alternatively if I cross them to a brown leghorn I should get golden duckwing females and silver duckwing males.
View attachment 4091482

No, black and duckwing are on the e locus, not sex linked. I'm saying that if you used a silver male over black or lavender Araucanas they wouldn't be useful because half their daughters' offspring would be black which means you wouldn't be able to sex them based on silver or gold.
However, if you crossed the silver Leghorn to a Hyline you would get silver hens (some completely white, some black and white) which would be useful for producing red sex links.

 

[MaeIstrom]

Ah yes I get that part, can't look for red on a black chook, I was planning on using barred females for that. I do have a mostly wheaten araucana that might be interesting to cross the silver duckwing though. The thing I'm not understanding is how you got sexlinks from a buckeye over a blue easter egger. I'm assuming the duckwing chicks are male and the black ones female.

 

[NatJ]

The thing I'm not understanding is how you got sexlinks from a buckeye over a blue easter egger. I'm assuming the duckwing chicks are male and the black ones female.

I don't think they are sexlinks. I think they are just an example of how a chicken that looks black or blue can also be carrying the genes for another color or pattern.

If a hen produces black chicks, you cannot check whether they are gold or silver. If she produces chicks with other patterns, you can check whether they are gold or silver.

I'm hoping a silver leghorn roo over black or lavender araucanas will give me hens that can be used to make red sexlinks.

If you cross the Silver Leghorn with either of those colors of Araucana, you should get black chicks. All the daughters will be genetically "silver," but you cannot tell because they look black.

If you later cross those black Leghorn/Araucana hens with a red rooster, half of chicks will be black so you cannot see whether they are gold or silver (like the example chicks in the picture that puzzled you.) The other half of the chicks will be able to show gold vs. silver and would be color-sexable if the mother is silver and the father is gold.

I've bred Araucanas with varying degrees of wheaten but an entirely red bird is frustratingly elusive.

Any of those hens should work with the Silver Leghorn rooster to produce silver daughters, that you can then mate with a red rooster to get sexlink chicks.

Having some black in their patterning is not usually a problem. You just want enough other color that you can see gold vs. silver on the chicks.