# Buff orpington and barred rock



## kdavis228

I have an even mixture of buff orpingtons and barred rocks. I ended up with 2 barred rock roosters. If I hatch some of the eggs in my Bator what will I end up with? Will the rock roosters mess with the orpingtons? And if they do will they look mixed?


----------



## WeeLittleChicken

A rooster will breed with any hen he can get near. Breed does not matter. If you want pure rocks I suggest you either separate them out or watch to see whose laying which eggs and only pick up theirs. My rocks lay pink tinted eggs while my orps lay tan ones, yours might be the same. If you do get mix birds I am giving an educated guess they'd probably be all black, lay lots of eggs, and have the body structure of either or both parents. Good luck.


----------



## BuckeyeChickens

kdavis228 said:


> I have an even mixture of buff orpingtons and barred rocks. I ended up with 2 barred rock roosters. If I hatch some of the eggs in my Bator what will I end up with? Will the rock roosters mess with the orpingtons? And if they do will they look mixed?


WeeLittleChickens gave you a great answer...YES, any male will mate with any female for the most part!

Regarding what you will get from a Buff Orp and Barred Rock cross however they will not be all black. You will get a "Sex-Link" cross, in otherwords the males will be a different color than the females! So you can actually tell the boys from the girls the day they hatch which is GREAT for culling and keeping just the pullets for laying purposes and the males for butchering (or whatever). Also Wee is correct, the pullet offspring should be egg laying machines due to something called "Hybrid vigor" that comes from cross breeding different breeds! Keep us posted and put some pics up here when they hatch.


----------



## WeeLittleChicken

Oh yeah! I was just reading about that sex linking in the barred rocks the other night. Totally forgot. Really fascinating stuff. Trying to get a better grasp on these things...


----------



## kdavis228

TX for the great info! Will keep posted.


----------



## BuckeyeChickens

WeeLittleChicken said:


> Oh yeah! I was just reading about that sex linking in the barred rocks the other night. Totally forgot. Really fascinating stuff. Trying to get a better grasp on these things...


The problem with these "sex-link" crosses is their offspring wont breed true...the next generation wont necessarily be a "sex-link" chicken anymore!!!


----------



## Nm156

A Barred Rock rooster x Buff Orpington hen will not create a sex link.
A Buff Orpington rooster x Barred Rock hen will create a sex link.


----------

