# Cross-breeds



## Scomber (Jan 30, 2005)

Today I failed to find what I really wanted. I want to see a web page with a chart. Along the top would be breeds of rooster. Along the side would be breeds of hen. It would be a good sized chart, with the top 30 or so breeds represented. In the chart would be links to what the offspring look like, with sex-link characteristics marked to stand out. There would be pictures of chicks and adults from the crosses.

So post your pictures here, and maybe we can find some home-school kid that needs an interesting science project to work up the chart for us.

I'm specifically looking for info for a Delaware rooster x Australorp hen cross. Will this give some kind of sex-link chick by any chance?


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

All cross breeds do not look the same way. Some take more after the rooster and some take more from the hen. It would also depend on the quality of the birds crossed.
There is a color chart available. You look for the color of your rooster and match it to the color of the hen and it is supposed to show what color the cross will be. It isn't real accurate.


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## Guest (Jun 20, 2012)

huisjen said:


> I'm specifically looking for info for a Delaware rooster x Australorp hen cross. Will this give some kind of sex-link chick by any chance?


No, all the chicks would be barred.

The other way around, Austra male X Dela hen would produce barred males and black females.

None of the above would be the clear barring of a regular barred chicken, because you would be adding the Columbian gene into the mix. What you would probably end up with (a guess on my part), would be smudgy gray chickens with discernible barring.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

I did some cross breeding this year. Anyone want to guess what the results would look like?

First cross is a white frizzle cochin rooster and a red laced cornish hen. I have kept 3 of the crosses. Anyone want to guess the color?

Second is a crele BB rooster and the same red laced cornish hen. I have quite a few of the crosses. Anyone want to guess the color?


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## zephyrcreek (Mar 30, 2012)

My understanding is that the barred gene or silver gene needs to be carried by the hen to have sex linked chicks. This means that you need to cross Del hens with a barred rock cock. 

I raise Dels, but have never intentionally tried it myself. Always planned on it, but pure Dels are worth a lot more money. lol


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## Guest (Jun 21, 2012)

pancho said:


> I did some cross breeding this year. Anyone want to guess what the results would look like?
> 
> First cross is a white frizzle cochin rooster and a red laced cornish hen. I have kept 3 of the crosses. Anyone want to guess the color?
> 
> Second is a crele BB rooster and the same red laced cornish hen. I have quite a few of the crosses. Anyone want to guess the color?


Is the cochin dominant white or recessive white? If he's recessive, what hidden colors and patterns does he carry?

Since the cornish hen carries dominant white, the offspring probably show a lot of white. There may even be some solid white offspring. But impossible to predict much without knowing the color genetics of the male.

Crele is the barred pattern added to BBR (wild pattern). I don't know how lacing reacts with the wild pattern, but the dominant white from the hen and the barring from the male should both be showing up in the offspring (although the barred *might* be obscured depending on how it reacts with lacing).

The second cross would be easier to predict some of what you'll see in the second and beyond filial generations (assuming you carry it that far). I would be expecting to see reds, BBR, whites, and barred, and various combinations thereof. The lacing would show up too, but the phenotypic appearance would just depend on how it reacts with the other patterns. You would probably get some interesting colors of lacing.



zephyrcreek said:


> My understanding is that the barred gene or silver gene needs to be carried by the hen to have sex linked chicks. This means that you need to cross Del hens with a barred rock cock.
> 
> I raise Dels, but have never intentionally tried it myself. Always planned on it, but pure Dels are worth a lot more money. lol


Delawares ARE genotypically barred. The columbian gene masks it.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

ladycat said:


> Is the cochin dominant white or recessive white? If he's recessive, what hidden colors and patterns does he carry?
> 
> Since the cornish hen carries dominant white, the offspring probably show a lot of white. There may even be some solid white offspring. But impossible to predict much without knowing the color genetics of the male.
> 
> ...


The cochin/cornish has produced 3 different colors so far.

The crele/cornish, the one that I am more interested in, has produced pullets of one color and roosters of another color. Very consistant on the colors.


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## whodunit (Mar 29, 2004)

Ours are all cross-bred including the rooster and the only real characteristic I care about is that they lay eggs.


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## Steph in MT (Sep 26, 2004)

Here's a chart on sex-linked chickens::
Chicken Sex-Linked Information


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

If it is important to you to know what chicks will look like, raise purebreds.

That's the entire point of purebreds: knowing what you are going to get when you breed them.

If you want to breed mutts, they come with a surprise in every package. You get what you get.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

Not to much to breeding pure breeds. They all look the same.
Gets boring after a while.
Trying to decide what bird to breed to another to produce a bird with certain characteristics is more of a challenge.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

if everyone were purists then we would all be raising Red Green or Grey Jungle Fowl,


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