Amber link

[jcamardo]

Hello everyone, I am a newby and I am finding this site priceless! I have chatted abit and have found people to be very helpful and friendley. There has not been a single question that I have searched on the forum that I havn't found answer for.... except for this... Does anyone have Amber Link chickens? Can you tell me about their disposition and laying habits? I would also love to see a pic if you have one.
Thank you
Janine

 

[jcamardo]

Just a chuckle. My 5yr. old has claimed our Amber Link as her own. She has given him the name "Pecker".

 

[mistymeadowchicks]

Hi. I too am relatively new to chickens, but here's my 2 cents if it helps. A family friend, who has a very nice free-range, brown egg business at a couple farmer's markets & several bakeries, gave me 10 chicks last spring. Being new, I had no idea what kind they were & didn't ask him for some time. The hens, it turned out were Amberlinks (along w/ 2 Barred Rock roosters). In my limited experience, these girls have been a treat--they are prolific, hardy & very adaptable to free-range. They have a ton of personality, are curious & friendly, easy to handle & be around. Even at a very young age, they are 'pros' at scratching/ foraging and they love mulch, pine straw, leaves & hay. As long as it's not the heat of the day when they're enjoying their 'dirt bathes', they'll even come when called. The girls don't seem aggressive toward me, though they quickly put my Border Collies, cats & even the horses in their places. (They were not particularly welcoming when I added more hens & are definitely the queens of the roost, so this might be a potential problem for some.) My hens are almost solid white--if there are brown/amber feathers, its very few if any. And of course, the 'chicken/ egg experts' at my local farmer's market assured me that "white hens would lay white eggs--end of discussion." (I did read differently on this website.) What a wonderful surprise when I found those first beautiful dark brown eggs! And, it wasn't long before I was getting 6 to 7 eggs a week per hen! I don't have a comparison for percentage, but I usually get a couple double yoked eggs each week; as far as egg size, once they got started, the eggs were consistently 'big' mediums/ large & are a very dark gorgeous brown--the envy of my organic farmer/ egg supplier neighbor at market. My chickens have free range of the 9.5 acres during the day and visit horse pastures, hay fields, the yards, woods, & off season, the garden & compost bins. In the past months, I added a dozen mature little red/ brown/ white something hens, from my original source & 2 barred rock hens--this is an addictive hobby. The barred rock hens are pleasant enough, and it may be that the red hens are older & weren't socialized,-- but I think the amberlinks are the most personable & my favorite. If your experiences are anything like mine, I think you'll be very pleased w/ your amberlinks!

 

[KyBlue]

I have a few Amberlinks that are ready to lay, but no eggs yet. Mine are all very calm and friendly birds. Most are white with the faint amber colored feathers, but a couple have much more red on them. Here are some pics I took of a couple of the pullets when they were about 4 months old.

 

[OLD ADOBE]

I am a chicken newbie...is this chicken an Amber Link? I'm thinking Rooster, what do you think?

At first I thought he/she might be a White Leghorn, but because of the red ears someone suggested maybe an Amber Link.

He/she is about 7 weeks old.


3rd one back...

 

[douglashawk]

I got an Amber in my order from Dunlap and she is very calm a friendly. I typically stay away from sex links as I prefer heritage breeds, but because of her temperament I'm keeping her. I just have a small flock of bamtams and wanted some bantam turkens. I ordered pullets to fill out the order. I figured I'd sell the pullets at the fair but she is not at all aggressive towards my oegs even though she's much bigger. She has much more red in her than the picture from the hatchery though. She'll be 13 weeks old on Tuesday.

 

[chelout]

Here's Goldie (left) with Buffy (what I believe is a white leghorn). Can anyone tell me if Goldie is an Amber Sex Link?

 

[oesdog]

Could any one tell me the difference between a hen and a rooster in the Amberlink?

One crows and the other lays?

Oes

 

[cwalsh2]

The ISA Brown or Amberlink would be your answer. Smallish birds large brown eggs and great feed conversion. I went with the Amberlink because they are slightly larger and better foragers. The cinamon Queen are larger full size birds so the feed conversion is considerable less. One reason I like the comercial brown egg layers(Amberlink and ISA Brown) is the ease of care because they don't dig their feed out of the feeders and waste it, like my heritage breeds all do. They are also very gentle and curious. Very easy to raise and enjoyable. They have been intensely bred for production by Hendrix Genetics for so many years, that the desire to dig out their feed and waste it is gone. Love em. I also raise show quality brown leghorns and Dominique's and although I really like them, they are not nearly as productive a layer as those developed for commercial production.

 

[chkncrazy]

Ok time to bump this thread. I went to Tsc and bought 4 of these they grew so much faster than my sp. Sussex and barred rock... like real fast i thought they were cornish vriss at first. They are about 11 weeks bow and no red comb im praying they are pullets