What the chicks of a Rhode Island Red and a Silver-Laced Wyandotte look like and lay, worked out from both breeds' standards.
A Rhode Island Red hen crossed with a Silver-Laced Wyandotte 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. Most chicks (50%) get a rose comb. Expect a medium bird, a top layer, calm, the average of the two parents.
Preset to a Rhode Island Red hen and a Silver-Laced Wyandotte 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 | Rhode Island Red hen | Silver-Laced Wyandotte rooster | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comb type | Single | Rose | Rose 50% · Single 50% |
| Barring | Not barred | Not barred | Not barred |
| Fibromelanosis | Absent | Absent | Absent |
| Skin color | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow |
| Feather pattern | Solid | Laced | varies: polygenic, parents differ |
| Leg color | Yellow | Yellow | Yellow likely (both parents share it) |
| Trait | Rhode Island Red | Silver-Laced Wyandotte | Chicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frame height | medium | medium | medium |
| Egg production | top layer | good layer | top layer |
| Broodiness | rarely broody | sometimes broody | sometimes broody |
| Docility | easygoing | calm | calm |
| Bone density | medium | medium | medium |
| Foraging skill | excellent forager | decent forager | good forager |
| Cold hardiness | very 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.