Auto-sexing

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Auto-sexing breeds of poultry are those in which the sex of newly-hatched chicks can be determined from the colour and markings of the down. Some breeds of chicken,[1]:53 of goose and of domestic pigeon have this characteristic.[2] The idea of such a breed is due to Reginald Punnett, who created the first auto-sexing chicken breed, the , at the in Cambridge in 1928.[3]:318[4]:73

Chickens[]

The concept of an auto-sexing breed of chicken is due to the geneticist Reginald Punnett, who during the First World War had already proposed the technique of cross-breeding chickens carrying the barred gene (B) with others to produce sex-linked chicks with plumage differences that could easily be distinguished.[3]:317

Working at the of Cambridge University, he and Michael Pease cross-bred Golden Campines with barred Plymouth Rocks, resulting in the creation of the in 1928.[4]:73 About ten years later they produced the Legbar by crossing brown Leghorns with barred Plymouth Rocks.[3]:318

Other "Cambridge" breeds later developed were:

  • the Brockbar, created in 1940 from buff and barred Plymouth Rocks, became extinct by about 1950[1]:54
  • the Brussbar, created in 1952 from light Sussex, brown Sussex and barred Plymouth Rocks[1]:55
  • the Dorbar, an auto-sexing heavy meat breed from Dorkings and barred Plymouth Rocks, bred from 1941 to about 1949, when development stopped[1]:59
  • the Rhodebar, from Rhode Island Reds and barred Plymouth Rocks, standardised in Britain in 1951; a similar cross-breed was developed in Canada[1]:63
  • the Welbar, not created at Cambridge but by a Devon breeder, from Welsumer and barred Plymouth Rocks;[1]:65 and
  • the Wybar, also not created at Cambridge but by an individual breeder, from Wyandotte, Brussbar and barred Plymouth Rocks.[1]:68

Many other breeds were created in the same way, all making use of barred Plymouth Rocks to impart the barred gene:

  • The American California Grey was bred in the 1930s in Modesto, California.[5]:432
  • In about 1936 Arend L. Hagedoorn introduced the barred gene to Barnevelders and to brown Leghorns.[6]:210
  • In 1940 R. George Jaap produced the Oklabar by crossing dark Cornish with barred Plymouth Rocks.[6]:210[7]
  • By 1941 the Ancobar had been bred from mottled Anconas and barred Plymouth Rocks, by W. F. Lamoreux at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.[6]:211[8]
  • The Polbar was created between 1946 and 1954 by Laura Kaufman, who crossed the native Polish Green-legged Partridge breed with barred Plymouth Rocks.[9]:556
  • The German Bielefelder Kennhuhn, developed in the 1970s in the area of Bielefeld in Nordrhein-Westfalen from Malines, Welsumer and barred Plymouth Rocks.[10]:6

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g J. Ian H. Allonby, Philippe B. Wilson (editors) (2018). British Poultry Standards: complete specifications and judging points of all standardized breeds and varieties of poultry as compiled by the specialist breed clubs and recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain, seventh edition. Chichester; Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell. ISBN 9781119509141.
  2. ^ W. F. Hollander (1942). Auto-sexing in the Domestic Pigeon. Journal of Heredity. 33 (4, April 1942): 135–140. doi:[https://doi.org/10.1093%2Foxfordjournals.jhered.a105150 10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a105150. (subscription required).
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c F. A. E. Crew (1967). Reginald Crundall Punnett. 1875-1967. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 13: 309–326.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Lewis Stevens (1991). Genetics and Evolution of the Domestic Fowl, digital edition (2005). Cambridge; New York; Port Chester: Melbourne; Sydney: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521403177.
  5. ^ Janet Vorwald Dohner (2001). The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds. New Haven, Connecticut; London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300088809.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Frederick Bruce Hutt (1949). Genetics of the Fowl, reprint edition, 2003. Blodgett, Oregon: Norton Creek Press. ISBN 9780972177030.
  7. ^ R. George Jaap (1940). Methods for producing auto sexing varieties of chicks. U.S. Egg Poultry Magazine. 46: 36–39.
  8. ^ W. F. Lamoreux (1941). The Autosexing Ancobar Journal of Heredity. 32 (7, July 1941): 221–226. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a105045. (subscription required).
  9. ^ Magdalena Gryzinska, Ewa Blaszczak, Aneta Strachecka, Grazyna Jezewska-Witkowska (2013). Analysis of Age-Related Global DNA Methylation in Chicken. Biochemical Genetics 51 (7–8): 554–563. doi:10.1007/s10528-013-9586-9.
  10. ^ Fritz Schöne (2008). Bielefeler Kennhühner: Attraktiv durch Leistung und Kennfarbigkeit (in German). Geflügelzeitung 18 (2006): 6–8.
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