Golden Sexlink Crowing

[swingboy3]

Dear All,

This spring we purchased 10 more pullet chicks. Five are amber whites and five are Golden Sex links. We also have an older flock that has a rooster. The chicks are all about 3 months old now and this last week two of the Sex Links started to answer our rooster by crowing. I then noticed that the two that were crowing are slightly larger and have larger waddles and combs than the others.
There are two possibilities here. We have 2 sex link roosters and 3 hens. Or the bigger ones just like to mimic a rooster because they aren't mature yet. I've attached some pictures so you can give me a good guess. The ones I am talking about have a comb big enough to be floppy, while the others barely have a comb above their feathers.
An additional question is whether there is an alternate way to sex chickens this age.

Thanks guys.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

If they're roosters, you'll know it easily. Sex-linked roosters look like this: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/Eric8Mos.JPEG; in other words, they have a lot of white and aren't a smooth color all over their bodies (splashes of white or black here and there don't count.)

I don't see any roosters in your photos. I think you've just got a pen with no rooster in it. In those cases, a hen will sometimes take over the rooster's job, and will even "crow."

Sexing sex-linked chickens is easy--the sexes are different colors at birth. That's the "sex-linked" part.

 

[swingboy3]

Thanks Walking,
I know the color thing with the sex-link, I'm just double checking. I kind of figured that there was very little chance of a mutation in a rooster.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

The way the color genetics work, there's pretty much no way you can get a red rooster. Funny, I just did a blog post on sex-linked chickens this past week. In case you're interested: http://www.redwicket.com/2013/05/breed-profile-golden-buff-aka-red-sex.html

 

[swingboy3]

Thanks for the info. Just a question I think I know the answer to already. Since the Red Sex Links are a cross between a rooster of one breed and a hen of another breed I assume that if you hatched eggs from the combo of a Red Sex Link Rooster and Hen that the color sexing will no longer happen. I'm not great at genetics, but I would think that otherwise they would be their own breed that doesn't need a cross.
Thanks again for the help.

 

[Pele]

You don't have Gold SLs. Instead your hatchery/breeder gave you Production Reds. The one with the curved tail and developed comb and wattles is absolutely a roo.

Gold SLs look like this as adult hens:

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

You don't have Gold SLs. Instead your hatchery/breeder gave you Production Reds. The one with the curved tail and developed comb and wattles is absolutely a roo.

Gold SLs look like this as adult hens:

Pele could be right that those are Production Reds. I did notice that the birds are very red, but I have a gold sex link that looks like this:
so I didn't think a thing of it. The bird with the lighter neck and all the black in the wings and the tail and the very thick legs (on the right hand side in the second, third, and fourth pics) does look exceptionally roo-ish. I didn't look closely the first time because I took your word for their being sex-links and just looked for sex-linked cockerel patterns, not basic cockerel traits.

Thanks for the info. Just a question I think I know the answer to already. Since the Red Sex Links are a cross between a rooster of one breed and a hen of another breed I assume that if you hatched eggs from the combo of a Red Sex Link Rooster and Hen that the color sexing will no longer happen. I'm not great at genetics, but I would think that otherwise they would be their own breed that doesn't need a cross.
Thanks again for the help.

You're exactly right. There are a couple of sex-linked breeds like the Cream Legbar that are their own breed and breed true, but the standard sex-linked chicken is a cross, so won't breed true.

 

[swingboy3]

I'm hoping that what I say next may answer most of my questions. The "Red" chicks that I bought grew very quickly. They are nearly twice the size of the amber whites that we bought at the same time. So, do Golden Sex Links or Production Reds or both grow very quickly?
We did buy these as chicks at our local ranch supply store, and it is possible that they are a straight run production red. So how do you sex chickens then? Or should I just wait and see?
As a follow up, if we do have two roosters we would like more hens. I think it would be fun, but is there any value to hatching a dozen+ eggs once these guys are laying?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I'm hoping that what I say next may answer most of my questions. The "Red" chicks that I bought grew very quickly. They are nearly twice the size of the amber whites that we bought at the same time. So, do Golden Sex Links or Production Reds or both grow very quickly?
We did buy these as chicks at our local ranch supply store, and it is possible that they are a straight run production red. So how do you sex chickens then? Or should I just wait and see?
As a follow up, if we do have two roosters we would like more hens. I think it would be fun, but is there any value to hatching a dozen+ eggs once these guys are laying?

I'm not sure about your maturation rates, sorry. Never had Amber Whites, so I can't tell.

As far as hatching eggs--Production Reds, while not really a "breed" like Rhode Island Red, are very good layers and a Production Red would make a fine flock rooster if you wanted to hatch some eggs. We had a Rhode Island Red as a flock rooster, and the hens from him crossed with some Red Sex Links are very pretty and nice layers. Not sure what a Production Red crossed with an Amber White would get you, but I would expect a nice layer.

Here's a hen that was a cross between and a red sex link and the RIR in the photo.

 

[swingboy3]

Here is an updated picture of what the supposed rooster looks like. Is it possible that this is some kind of meat bird due to how fast it grew or are we pretty sure that these are production reds?