What Would Their Chicks Look Like? (#3)

[SwampPrincessChick]

Yes, they would be sexlinked (golden males that look silvery at hatch, gold females) and have rose combs, assuming your Sebright is pure for that trait. Sometimes Sebrights carry a recessive gene for not-rose combs, so it's possible some of their offspring will have single combs as well if that is the case.

You should see incomplete lacing in the plumage of all of the offspring, similar to the pictures above. The females should be a gold sort of color, but the males should be more whitish-yellow.

Should make for some very pretty birds!

Coming back to this post, I have a question! Why exactly would their chicks be sex-linked and how do you know? How would the genetics come into play with that? I want to learn more, sorry for the questions!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Coming back to this post, I have a question! Why exactly would their chicks be sex-linked and how do you know? How would the genetics come into play with that? I want to learn more, sorry for the questions!

Silver Female X Gold/Red Male = Gold/Red Females, & Silver, or Gold Silver Split Males.

Female chicks would have an orangy color too them at hatch, & Males would be White, or Yellowish White at hatch.

Here's a Sebright/Red JungleFowl cross chick, but this is purely gold/red.

Chick is dark with a brownish gold face. Apologies the picture isn't great.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Silver is sexlinked.

Females can only be Either Silver, or Gold but not both. Think like Barring, with females only having 1 copy.

Males can be both Gold, & Silver, or just Silver, or Gold.
But in the case of sexlinking with silver female, Males will only be Silver, or Silver/Gold split.

 

[NatJ]

Coming back to this post, I have a question! Why exactly would their chicks be sex-linked and how do you know? How would the genetics come into play with that?

The gold/silver genes are on the Z sex chromosome.
Females have ZW (one Z that can have a gene for gold or silver, one W that makes her female.)
Males have ZZ (can have two genes for gold, or two for silver, or one of each.)

Silver is considered dominant. When a rooster has both gold and silver, he looks mostly silver. That includes silver (white) feathers when young, but as he matures the "silver" feathers may look a bit yellowish (called "golden" by some people, which looks enough like the word "gold" to be horribly confusing). But he still won't have the rich red/gold colors that you can get in gold hens or in roosters that have two copies of the gold gene.

When you breed two chickens:
--the male gives one Z chromosome to each chick
--the female gives Z to some chicks (males) and W to some other chicks (makes them female)

To make sexlinks, you need a male with the recessive trait (gold, or not-barred, or chocolate, or various other genes.) Because he shows the recessive trait, you know he cannot be carrying the dominant gene (if he had it, he would show it.)

You need a female with the dominant trait (gold or barred or not-chocolate or whatever.) Because she only has one Z chromosome, she cannot be carrying any other version of that trait.

When you breed them, the male gives his recessive trait to all the chicks, because it's the only thing he has to give them.
The female gives her dominant trait to her sons (the Z chromosome), and she gives W to her daughters (makes them female, doesn't have any of the genes you would get on a Z chromosome.)

So the daughters have a Z chromosome from their father (recessive trait) and a W chromosome from their mother (makes them female.) The daughters show the recessive trait (gold, or not-barred, or chocolate, or whatever other trait you are dealing with.)

The sons have two Z chromosomes: one from the father (recessive trait) and one from the mother (dominant trait.) They show the dominant trait (silver, or barring, or not-chocolate, or whatever else is involved.)

When the father and mother have the same traits, of course the chicks show them too. In the example with your rooster and hen, neither one of them has barring. So all the chicks are pure for not-barred. So the gold/silver difference is the only on that will matter on their Z chromosomes.

A Delaware hen has both silver and barring (both on the only Z chromosome she has.) If you crossed a Delaware hen with your rooster, you would get daughters that have gold and no barring, and sons that have both silver AND barring.

When I talk about chickens being "gold," I mean they have the gold gene. Other genes can make some changes in how it looks: the Mahogany gene makes gold into a dark red, the Cream gene makes gold into a light yellow, there are probably quite a few other genes that make small adjustments to the color but don't have names of their own. The darker the "gold" color on sexlink chicks, the more they look different than silver chicks, and the easier they are to sex. Likewise, the less black in the chick down, the easier it is to see the gold/silver differences. Rhode Island Reds are often used as the father of sexlink chicks, because they have a nice rich red and not much black, which means their chicks often have those same easy-to-sex details.

Any chicken has genes for gold or silver (or both in some roosters.) But when a chicken is black all over, you cannot see the gold or silver. If the black is changed to blue or splash or chocolate or lavender or white, you still cannot see the gold/silver difference. (Blue and splash are cased by the blue gene, chocolate and lavender by genes with the same name as the color, white by Dominant White that turns black into white.) So you can only make useful gold/silver sexlinks with chickens that have the right genes (gold males, silver females) and that produce chicks where you can see the gold vs. silver difference in their down.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Silver Female X Gold/Red Male = Gold/Red Females, & Silver, or Gold Silver Split Males.

Female chicks would have an orangy color too them at hatch, & Males would be White, or Yellowish White at hatch.

Here's a Sebright/Red JungleFowl cross chick, but this is purely gold/red.
View attachment 3774375
Chick is dark with a brownish gold face. Apologies the picture isn't great.

Silver is sexlinked.

Females can only be Either Silver, or Gold but not both. Think like Barring, with females only having 1 copy.

Males can be both Gold, & Silver, or just Silver, or Gold.
But in the case of sexlinking with silver female, Males will only be Silver, or Silver/Gold split.

The gold/silver genes are on the Z sex chromosome.
Females have ZW (one Z that can have a gene for gold or silver, one W that makes her female.)
Males have ZZ (can have two genes for gold, or two for silver, or one of each.)

Silver is considered dominant. When a rooster has both gold and silver, he looks mostly silver. That includes silver (white) feathers when young, but as he matures the "silver" feathers may look a bit yellowish (called "golden" by some people, which looks enough like the word "gold" to be horribly confusing). But he still won't have the rich red/gold colors that you can get in gold hens or in roosters that have two copies of the gold gene.

When you breed two chickens:
--the male gives one Z chromosome to each chick
--the female gives Z to some chicks (males) and W to some other chicks (makes them female)

To make sexlinks, you need a male with the recessive trait (gold, or not-barred, or chocolate, or various other genes.) Because he shows the recessive trait, you know he cannot be carrying the dominant gene (if he had it, he would show it.)

You need a female with the dominant trait (gold or barred or not-chocolate or whatever.) Because she only has one Z chromosome, she cannot be carrying any other version of that trait.

When you breed them, the male gives his recessive trait to all the chicks, because it's the only thing he has to give them.
The female gives her dominant trait to her sons (the Z chromosome), and she gives W to her daughters (makes them female, doesn't have any of the genes you would get on a Z chromosome.)

So the daughters have a Z chromosome from their father (recessive trait) and a W chromosome from their mother (makes them female.) The daughters show the recessive trait (gold, or not-barred, or chocolate, or whatever other trait you are dealing with.)

The sons have two Z chromosomes: one from the father (recessive trait) and one from the mother (dominant trait.) They show the dominant trait (silver, or barring, or not-chocolate, or whatever else is involved.)

When the father and mother have the same traits, of course the chicks show them too. In the example with your rooster and hen, neither one of them has barring. So all the chicks are pure for not-barred. So the gold/silver difference is the only on that will matter on their Z chromosomes.

A Delaware hen has both silver and barring (both on the only Z chromosome she has.) If you crossed a Delaware hen with your rooster, you would get daughters that have gold and no barring, and sons that have both silver AND barring.

When I talk about chickens being "gold," I mean they have the gold gene. Other genes can make some changes in how it looks: the Mahogany gene makes gold into a dark red, the Cream gene makes gold into a light yellow, there are probably quite a few other genes that make small adjustments to the color but don't have names of their own. The darker the "gold" color on sexlink chicks, the more they look different than silver chicks, and the easier they are to sex. Likewise, the less black in the chick down, the easier it is to see the gold/silver differences. Rhode Island Reds are often used as the father of sexlink chicks, because they have a nice rich red and not much black, which means their chicks often have those same easy-to-sex details.

Any chicken has genes for gold or silver (or both in some roosters.) But when a chicken is black all over, you cannot see the gold or silver. If the black is changed to blue or splash or chocolate or lavender or white, you still cannot see the gold/silver difference. (Blue and splash are cased by the blue gene, chocolate and lavender by genes with the same name as the color, white by Dominant White that turns black into white.) So you can only make useful gold/silver sexlinks with chickens that have the right genes (gold males, silver females) and that produce chicks where you can see the gold vs. silver difference in their down.

Thank you both for the replies! Genetics is interesting and I cannot wait to find out what their chicks are going to look like so I can get a better idea of these genes!

 

[MysteryChicken]

Thank you both for the replies! Genetics is interesting and I cannot wait to find out what their chicks are going to look like so I can get a better idea of these genes!

You're welcome.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Forgot to mention that I have set Ruby's and Quartz's eggs in the incubator! Approximately seventeen days to go, unless some decide to hatch early.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Ten more days to go! I am excited to see what their chicks turn out to look like. How silver-y will the males look compared to the females once they hatch? Obvious silver or more hard-to-see silver?

 

[NatJ]

Ten more days to go! I am excited to see what their chicks turn out to look like. How silver-y will the males look compared to the females once they hatch? Obvious silver or more hard-to-see silver?

That will partly depend on how much black the chicks have.

For areas that are not black, I would expect the gold/silver difference to be pretty obvious, after several chicks hatch and you can compare them.

The "silver" can range from white to yellowish shades plus some grays, and "gold" can range from yellow to red plus some browns and brownish grays. So looking at a group of the chicks will usually make it clear which sets of colors go in which grouping, but looking at just one chick can be confusing.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

The eggs have been in lockdown for a few days, I am beginning to get anxious because I am ready for a pip already!

That will partly depend on how much black the chicks have.

For areas that are not black, I would expect the gold/silver difference to be pretty obvious, after several chicks hatch and you can compare them.

The "silver" can range from white to yellowish shades plus some grays, and "gold" can range from yellow to red plus some browns and brownish grays. So looking at a group of the chicks will usually make it clear which sets of colors go in which grouping, but looking at just one chick can be confusing.

Sorry for missing your comment, and thank you once again! I am excited to see these chicks.