Hen or Rooster?

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Not quite.

Chickens are either silver based, or gold based.

You must have some silver based hens. White Rocks, maybe, or Delawares, something like that. I'm not thinking a regular barred Rock would produce a son like that no matter what you crossed her with.

A gold based rooster ( you said the father is a Red) crossed with a silver based hen would give sex linked offspring. Males would be silver, females would be gold.

Your red sex link hens could not be the mothers of these chicks, if the father is indeed a RIR.

If you want us to try to narrow down who the momma is, post pics of the rooster and the hens that are contenders.
 
Ok thanks! I think I know what you mean. I have a couple Rhode Island white hens. So they must be from her and the RR Rooster. But everything I see online about gold or red sex link the roosters don't appear to have a lot of black like mine. Correct?
 
atm21 said:
Ok thanks! I think I know what you mean. I have a couple Rhode Island white hens. So they must be from her and the RR Rooster. But everything I see online about gold or red sex link the roosters don't appear to have a lot of black like mine. Correct?
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That's because most hatcheries use White Rock hens. They are silver base color with dominant white. You can't see white patterning on silver base color. Red sexlinks that use a Delware for the hen frequently look like your boys. Red sexlink hens bred to Rhode Island Red will not produce silver colored chicks. The only possibility from that crossing would be more red birds.
 
Your hens must carry some barring genes, and some Colombian genes. That's where the black color and barring in the neck comes from.

Dominant white is one of those strong genes. It basically turns black into white. So, your hens that appear plain white, actually have a complex set of genes underneath, from their offspring's colors.

Hatchery stock usually doesn't use the Colombian or barred birds, so you're correct that hatchery sex link roosters don't have the same markings. But, there are many, many "recipes" to make a sex link. You've just stumbled upon one, so your birds have a unique look.

did you get any gold/red colored birds from this hatch? I'm wondering if they were also sex linked, and what they look like. But I guess there's no guarantee they came from the same hens, they could easily be from the sex link hens.
 
donrae said:
Your hens must carry some barring genes, and some Colombian genes. That's where the black color and barring in the neck comes from.
I  Dominant white is one of those strong genes. It basically turns black into white. So, your hens that appear plain white, actually have a complex set of genes underneath, from their offspring's colors. 

Hatchery stock usually doesn't use the Colombian or barred birds, so you're correct that hatchery sex link roosters don't have the same markings. But, there are many, many "recipes" to make a sex link. You've just stumbled upon one, so your birds have a unique look. 

did you get any gold/red colored birds from this hatch? I'm wondering if they were also sex linked, and what they look like. But I guess there's no guarantee they came from the same hens, they could easily be from the sex link hens. 
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There this chicken that has a little red on the chest. But I'm pretty sure it's a black sex link from my RR Rooster and barred rock hen I believe it's a pullet correct? Sorry for the bad pictures I just moved them into a new pen so they are real skittish.
 
atm21 said:

There this chicken that has a little red on the chest. But I'm pretty sure it's a black sex link from my RR Rooster and barred rock hen I believe it's a pullet correct? Sorry for the bad pictures I just moved them into a new pen so they are real skittish.
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I see red through the wing/shoulder area. And if it's the same age as the others, with the red of a comb, definitely a cockerel and not a black sexlink.
 
This is my favorite chicken! I hatched it from MPC. I'm hoping it a pulley does it appear to be a pullet or rooster?
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