Red Star?

juliejohnson805

Songster
Aug 24, 2016
152
78
126
Central Alabama
Is there a difference between Red Star and Red Sex Link? I have someone local who insist that the true Red Star is fairly rare and very expensive. Other things I've read seem to say they are one in the same. Thoughts?
 
Red Sex LInks are sold under many names - Red Star, Golden Comet, Cinnamon Queen, etc --- but they are all just that, red sex links - the result of crossing a red based male over silver based females resulting in sex lined chicks. The proprietary names are just names different hatcheries and people give them
 
I would ask this person what their definition/understanding of a "true red star" is - perhaps they are not thinking of the same thing? Different hatcheries use different parent breeds to create their sex lined crosses, so perhaps their understanding of a "true" red star is based on a specific cross.
 
A red star is a RIR x RIW chicken. A red sex link is a catch all to identify a chicken that is a cross of a red rooster (RIR or NH) and a silver
breed of hen that results in a predictable feather color at hatch tied to sex. Red stars are red sex links but not all red sex links are red stars.
Red stars are the most abundant of the red sex links hardly a rarity.
 
Last edited:
Red Star's are a red sexlink. That is just the name they are sold by so no, red sexlinks are not rare, hard to find, or even expensive. I got my red star hen forfree and my friend has over 150 of them from a hatchery. They are only 'hard to find' as in you can't breed them from two sex links. You can only get them from hatcheries or people who have taken the time to research how to properly breed sexlink chickens rather than just backyard mutts. Again, I had a hen labeled a red star and I got her for free xD she was only of 30 my neighbor got to butcher and she was smart and came to my house.
 
Last edited:
I am not exactly sure what cross he is calling a Red Star. My main line of thinking was I could buy day olds and make a killing off of raising and selling at the local sale. He was getting around $30 for 6-8 week old pullet.
hu.gif
He had some of use on the lookout for Red Star rooster (he couldnt find easily because of rarity)so he can breed again. He found one and has eggs in incubator now. He also calls his EE Amercauna. He is where I got my first 6 pullets at 6 weeks old that ALL turned out to be roos! So I tend to not trust him anyway. Interesting to listen to though....
wink.png
 
Last edited:
I am not exactly sure what cross he is calling a Red Star. My main line of thinking was I could buy day olds and make a killing off of raising and selling at the local sale. He was getting around $30 for 6-8 week old pullet.
hu.gif
He had some of use on the lookout for Red Star rooster (he couldnt find easily because of rarity)so he can breed again. He found one and has eggs in incubator now. He also calls his EE Amercauna. He is where I got my first 6 pullets at 6 weeks old that ALL turned out to be roos! So I tend to not trust him anyway. Interesting to listen to though....
wink.png

A bird is worth what someone is willing to pay for it - it sounds like he has found some very willing customers and/or has possibly mislead a few unwitting folks with his "very rare" story and mislabeling of breeds, etc -- from your own experience with him he is not someone I would model my venture after. $20-30 for a point of lay pullet is not really that much, but a 6-8 week old bird that is a bit high (again, finding someone willing to pay that price) -- folks *will* pay a bit more for "coop ready" birds (that age range) as they are not in need of supplemental heating and with the sex links there is the added advantage of no surprises with regard to gender.
The fact he wanted a "red star rooster" tells me all I need to know about his understanding of breeding the birds -- you can't breed red star to red star and get sex linked chicks.
 
I think he is sorely misinformed. I know he is not open to hearing he might be wrong. I tried that when I got the other so called Amercauna from him. What will he get when he crosses a Red Star roo with Red Star hen? I'm now kinda curious.....
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom