# Interesting Cross?



## John2016 (Apr 11, 2016)

I have this rooster the pick below is when he is a juvenile but he looks the same now. What can explain this coloration? I have barred Plymouth Rock but the mother is a non barred hen. Shouldn't of the offspring be barred??


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I guess I would call it Crele? I wish I knew what went into him and how to reproduce it. I'm sure some of our members are better at genetics than me. I think he's beautiful.


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## zamora (May 26, 2015)

I know ZERO about chicken genetics but I sure do know a purty chicken when I see one and that is most definitely one of them!


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## Nm156 (May 16, 2015)

It does have some barring in it.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Does it look like a Chocolate Barred Orpington?


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

Sometimes the mutts are better looking than full breeds.I have a few 'Ameraucauna/Cochin mixes that are beautiful


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Oh for sure. It's unfortunate you can't breed duplicates from a mutt.


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## CanadianBuckeye (Apr 12, 2016)

It depends on whether or not the rooster is heterozygous (one copy of the barred gene) or homozygous (two copies of the barred gene). The hen can only ever have one copy, or none, of the barred gene, as it's sex linked. A solid hen (or a solid rooster of course) has no barred gene. 
The rooster can have one or two copies, and you can tell by the barring the rooster has whether or not he has one or two copies. Dark barred means one copy, and this rooster will have barring like the hen. Light barred means two copies, and this rooster will appear lighter in colour than the hen because the white bands are bigger. 
If you breed a rooster with two copies of the barring gene to a non- barred hen, all the chicks will be barred, both the males and the females. 
If you breed a rooster with one copy of the barring gene to a non-barred hen, half the chicks will be barred (male or female), the other half won't have barring (male or female). (This is an average of a large number of chicks, the percentages will be skewed for a smaller number of chicks so it's very possible to get all or none barred). 
If you breed a barred hen to a non- barred rooster, you'll get barred males and solid females. This is a way to make sex linked chicks. 
Barring does not affect the colour of the chicken- you can have barring over any colour. All the gene does is cause the appearance of stripes by stopping pigment deposition (white=no colour) and starting deposition (colour) going into the feather, which gives the barred appearance. 
A barred rock is basically a black chicken. If you breed out the barring gene, you'll get black.

Your very handsome rooster is basically a red and black chicken with the barring gene. There's probably more going on there, but that's the gist of it.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

Thanks for that lesson, Canadian. I had a Black Jersey roo and a BR hen and they produced a BR rooster that had beautiful thinner barring. So I guess he would only carry one copy?


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## CanadianBuckeye (Apr 12, 2016)

seminolewind said:


> Thanks for that lesson, Canadian. I had a Black Jersey roo and a BR hen and they produced a BR rooster that had beautiful thinner barring. So I guess he would only carry one copy?


Yes, he will only have one copy. Because a barred rooster can carry one or two copies of the gene, he would have received one copy from his mother but none from his father.


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