ISA Brown??

hensonly

Songster
11 Years
May 15, 2008
438
4
131
upstate NY
I was just on Feathersite, checking out photos to figure out what my birds are (they were ordered as RIR pullets, but aren't). Two of my "pullets" are roos, and one is clearly a production red. The girls are either gold sex links or ISA browns, and my other roo looks an awful lot like the photo of the ISA brown roo on feathersite... but what is an ISA brown??? And why do they look so much like the gold sex links?

The roo is gorgeous, but he's started protecting the hens from me a little bit...still deciding whether to keep him, but he's so beautiful I'd hate to see him go. Anyway, that's another topic! For now, I'd really just like to know what he is!

Thanks.
 
ISA brown, Red sex link, Gold sex link, Red Star, Golden Comet are all the same thing: Red or gold male over a silver female. The female offspring are reddish buff with some white in the neck and tail. Males are whiteish with some red/black on the shoulders/tail. They're used for brown egg production.

ISA browns are a cross between a Rhode Island Red male and a Rhode Island White female. ISA stands for Institut de Sélection Animale. So ISA brown is just a brand name for a production breed.

Why the different names? Different breeders use different breeds to make the cross and name it whatever they like.

Is that the info you were looking for?
smile.png
 
Quote:
That is exactly what I was looking for!! Thanks a bunch!

Sounds like the same thing as the "designer dogs" that have come along in the past few years, except creating mixed breed chickens has a purpose!

Seems odd that chicks that looked so alike as babies, who have the same genetic background, can mature so differently, just based on gender. I do understand sex link traits, but still, it's pretty amazing to see it in front of you!
ep.gif


Thanks again for your clarification.
 
Quote:
They are 17 weeks today. I can post pics, except I don't have current ones on Photobucket - it takes nearly half an hour to upload each photo, so I don't do it often! If I get a chance, I'll upload a couple so I have them there.

PS - one of them is laying already - started last week. May have a second one now, too - took one egg midmorning yesterday, found another one this am before they were off the roost, unless one flew down, laid, and flew back up...??

So I guess whatever breed they are, they will be good layers! I didn't expect eggs this early.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom