What the chicks of a Bielefelder and a Rhode Island Red look like and lay, worked out from both breeds' standards.
A Bielefelder hen crossed with a Rhode Island Red rooster gives you what keepers call a first-generation (F1) cross. The pullets should lay brown eggs: there is no blue gene in this cross. Every chick gets a single comb. Barring is sex-linked in this direction: the cockerels hatch barred and the pullets do not, so the chicks can be sexed on hatch day. Expect a large bird, a top layer, calm, the average of the two parents.
♂♀ Sex-linked cross: barring tells cockerels from pullets at hatch.
Preset to a Bielefelder hen and a Rhode Island Red rooster. Change either side to see how the blue gene and the brown coat move the shell colour.
He never lays, so his blue gene is read from his mother's eggs.
Too uncertain to call: 0–100% blue-based (Olive if it is, otherwise Brown). Add lineage to narrow it.
Brown shade shifts with a hen's age, diet and stress, so identical genes still lay a little differently. Speckling and bloom are cosmetic and not modelled.
| Trait | Bielefelder hen | Rhode Island Red rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Single | Single | Single |
| Barring | Barred | Not barred | Barred 50% · Not barred 50%sex-linked: ♂ 100% barred, ♀ 0% barred |
| Fibromelanosis | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Skin color | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| Feather pattern | Partridge | Solid | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
| Leg color | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow likely (both parents share it) |
Barring and silver are carried on the Z chromosome, so which parent is which changes the chicks.
| Trait | Rhode Island Red hen | Bielefelder rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Single | Single | Single |
| Barring | Not barred | Barred | Barred 50% · Not barred 50%assumes the sire carries not barred, so it could be 0%; a hatch or a known genotype can confirm (uncertain) |
| Fibromelanosis | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Skin color | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| Feather pattern | Solid | Partridge | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
| Leg color | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow likely (both parents share it) |
A Rhode Island Red hen crossed with a Bielefelder rooster gives you what keepers call a first-generation (F1) cross. The pullets should lay brown eggs: there is no blue gene in this cross. Every chick gets a single comb. Most chicks (50%) are barred. Expect a large bird, a top layer, calm, the average of the two parents.
| Trait | Bielefelder | Rhode Island Red | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frame height | large | medium | large |
| Egg production | good layer | top layer | top layer |
| Broodiness | rarely broody | rarely broody | rarely broody |
| Docility | hand-tame | easygoing | calm |
| Bone density | sturdy | medium | sturdy |
| Foraging skill | good forager | excellent forager | excellent forager |
| Cold hardiness | cold-hardy | very cold-hardy | very cold-hardy |
Chicks land near the average of the two parents for these traits. Reaching one parent's extreme takes another generation of selection.
This is the breed-standard version. Add your flock, set a breeding goal, and the pairing engine ranks every hen and rooster you own against it. Free for up to 15 birds.
Checked September 2026. Hybrids and breeds no reference covers are marked approximate. Egg colour on these pages follows one rule: Brown is any shade a buyer would call brown; Cream/tinted is off-white.