Mixed Breed Genetics Help!

[Westholme Farmstead]

Can someone help me out with this 4 week old chick? I'm trying to determine this chick's breed mix but it's not adding up for me.

The rooster was a Rhode Island Red for sure. The hen was either Barred Rock, Light Sussex, Light Brahma or Rhode Island Red. There are black Ameraucana and White Leghorns in the coop as well but this hatched from a brown egg so neither of them are an option. I've attached a photos of the potential hens and rooster in addition to photos of the chick in question.

I originally assumed that this chick was a pure RIR but it seems to be getting barred feathers and Rhode Island Reds don't have barred feathers. This rules out it being pure RIR.

I'm just learning when it comes to chicken genetics but my understanding is that a Barred Rock hen x Rhode Island Red rooster makes a black sex link. This definitely isn't that. So the hen was not a Barred Rock.

Now, again I'm learning but, I believe a Light Sussex or Light Brahma hen with a Rhode Island Red rooster makes a red sex link. This chick fits this description best but neither of these potential hens has barred feathers. Sussex have white legs though and I believe that is dominant. This chick has yellow legs. Probably not the Light Sussex because of that. Do Brahmas always pass down feathered legs/feet? He/she has clean legs and feet.

So, anyway, I'm confused. I've assumed this chick to be a cockerel but, if it's a red sex link then it's obviously a pullet being that it is red. It does not look female to me though. I have another red chick from this hatch that looks quite similar to this one but has feathered legs. The hen must have been a Brahma for that one making it a red sex link female. She is fairly masculine and quite a heavy bird as well, maybe even a little moreso than this one. I still feel like this chick is male though.

There are no other potential breeds that could be the mother and everyone was supposed to be purebred. They look to be pure but I suppose it's possible they aren't though. I know that, in the end, it doesn't matter but I'm curious. I'd love some insight from those who know a little more than I do. Is there something obvious I'm missing here?

The chick in question:

The rooster and potential hens:

I've had lots of people tell me that the barred feathers mean this chick had to come from a Barred Rock hen. We have another from this hatch that obviously came from a Barred Rock hen (see below) and I would expect any others from the RIR rooster x BR hen mating to look like our boy below if male or be all black if female. Maybe this isn't always the case though?

I have this posted in the What Breed Or Gender is This? forum here: Red Sex Link or no? but it was suggested that I ask here.
Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Krystal

 

[sylviethecochin]

Well, the barring came from somewhere, and it's not from the rooster (nice colour, BTW).

I originally thought one of your Sussexes might be a Delaware, (and that's still a possibility. Check please) but to get a red rooster, said Delaware would have to carry gold, which seems unlikely.

Option #2 is that one of your Barred Rocks carries wheaten. It can be well-hidden--I have a hen that's solid cuckoo except for a few red feathers near her neck.

 

[Westholme Farmstead]

Well, the barring came from somewhere, and it's not from the rooster (nice colour, BTW).

I originally thought one of your Sussexes might be a Delaware, (and that's still a possibility. Check please) but to get a red rooster, said Delaware would have to carry gold, which seems unlikely.

Option #2 is that one of your Barred Rocks carries wheaten. It can be well-hidden--I have a hen that's solid cuckoo except for a few red feathers near her neck.

Thank you! Unfortunately the adult chickens in the photos are not mine so I can't just go check them out. I bought a dozen inexpensive eggs to hatch and test my homemade incubator and the person I got the eggs from shared these pictures of their flock.

I went looking for other photos and as far as I can tell there are two Sussex chickens. I could only see the legs of one clearly and they were white. That one isn't a Delaware at least but it's possible the other one could be.

Same goes for the Barred Rock. I didn't see anything off in terms of feather color with her Barred Rocks (at least not to my very untrained eye) in any of the pictures but one appears to have white legs...

 

[NatJ]

Option #2 is that one of your Barred Rocks carries wheaten. It can be well-hidden--I have a hen that's solid cuckoo except for a few red feathers near her neck.

Yes, that is a possibility. I once had a similar chicken. Mine was a Barred Rock bantam, bought from a hatchery, that was split for Extended Black (correct) and Wheaten (wrong). She did not show any visible signs of having other genes, but half her chicks were wheaten-based rather than black based.

(Actually, that was quite an interesting batch of chicks: the father was gold and not-barred, so all chicks were sexlinks: black females, black males with white barring, gold females, silver males with white barring, all in roughly equal numbers. But the gold and silver chicks were a big surprise when they first hatched!)

Personally, I think the "barring" on the red chick is more likely to be one of those weird coloring things that happens in some chicks an disappears as they grow older, but that is something we won't know until it happens or doesn't happen. If the barring stays, then of course the chick must have a barred parent, and since the father definitely is not barred, the barring would have to come from the mother.