# Breed?



## portraitiste (Oct 31, 2013)

Hi all,

My boyfriend owns a Rhode Island Red cockerel and 6 hens plus 2 Barred Plymouth Rock hens which he has successfully bred from via incubation.

14 of 16 eggs hatched, pretty good for his first batch. 8 are cockerels and 6 are hens (we think). His chickens managed to produce Black Rocks and RIR's.

However, there is one black (or actually... white) sheep in the family and it happens to be the chick he has so kindly given to me...

My chick, we think, is a cockerel. But it's very difficult to tell because of the colour he came out as... He came from a Barred Plymouth Rock egg (we thought this as abnormal as he came out as a yellow chick and should have been black with yellow markings, like his half brothers and sisters...). I wanted a cockerel as a pet and am going to get some more hens to keep him company when he is old enough to go outside. He has started to develop white wings and looks like a miniature angel lol!

So, what do you guys think has happened here? Why is he white, is it possibly some sort of throwback where the Barred Rock hens have Light Sussex genes in them? What breed do you think he is?

I genuinely can't wait until he loses his down feathers so I can see what colour he truly is! He's a strange one but has THE best nature


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## avis67 (Oct 27, 2013)

If the rooster mated one of the Barred Rocks it would create a Black Sex Link. This link can help too: http://voices.yahoo.com/sex-link-chicken-genetics-5572393.html. What other hen breeds did your boyfriend have, is it possible that they were mixed in?


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## portraitiste (Oct 31, 2013)

Thank you for replying, he has Barred Rock hens who have produced Black Sex Link chicks and he also has 6 Rhode Island Red hens who have produced normal RIR chicks... so that's why we were confused as to where my chick has come from.

As I stated he came from a Barred Rock egg so should have come out as a Black Sex Link chick but clearly didn't haha!

That's why I was thinking it was possibly a throwback in the Barred Rock hens as the RIR cockerel and RIR hens produced normal RIR chicks


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## MaransGuy (Jul 15, 2013)

Whatever it is, it's very cute! lol


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## portraitiste (Oct 31, 2013)

Thank you Maransguy!  He is very special indeed


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