Black Sex Link chicken

my black sexlink is very food obsessed, she loves her crumble. She has a few BFFs in the flock, Vicky, who passed away, Flo, and Phyllis. She likes humans, but is more a chicken "person". She likes the older chickens more than the annoying young ones. She is not that picky about what she eats, which is good. She is not vocal at all.

I've kept black sex links for years and I really enjoy them. I have had them go broody from time to time, but they haven't been very good mamas. I wouldn't recommend letting them hatch chicks.

I have had Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, and Red Sex Links and the only competition is Red Sex Link. Black Sex Links are better looking IMO. Raised 25 from chicks to pullets, and sold pullets to two other families. They are very happy with them and word spread around. Now people are asking me when I will have more BSL pullets. Maybe in another year or two! Get your coop ready because otherwise what are you gonna do?

Bought 10 two years ago to replace my Barred Rock hens. They were very productive the first year; however, their production dropped to approx 50% the second year. It's been nearly five months since they molted, and only one hen is is consistently laying. I'm going back to the Barred Rocks this spring.

I have 1 Black Star (black sex-link) named Pippy. ❤ She is the sweetest little thing. And I mean little! She likes to "help" me in my flower garden. She likes walking through "forests" of plants and plucking whole leaves off of plants. It's like her hobby. It is so cute to watch. She is just over 8 weeks so she doesn't lay eggs yet.

I have four black sex link hens: Nyra, Pellimore, Otulissa, and Kasumi. Pellimore and Kasumi run right up to me when I walk out! All of my past experiences with these birds is that they REALLY love corn.

These are beatiful animals. No health issues so far. They are friendly but cautious and got along with the ducks when they were in the yard. They wander pretty far away from the coop and like to hide. Egg supply is steady and they like their jungle gym and swing.

We had one Black Sexlink and she was a sweetheart. Our most consistent of the bunch--we had a variety at the time because, well, we have 5 grandchildren and wanted to be able to tell which bird belonged to which grand!

She's not too bad... Pretty friendly, but isn't quite as calm/friendly as I'd like her to be (she's still sociable...just doesn't care for being touched anymore).
In her peak, she's an average layer. But she really isn't my best layer. It's her first year, and yet she just stopped laying sometime in early November...completely. And one more thing: She's already begun to molt a couple of days ago, at such a young age. She matured probably on the average side laying wise, but matured super fast looks wise.
Here's my young hen, Superchick:

I really have enjoyed my Black Star "Filamena", she is retired now. But still retains her beauty, sweet personality and smarts! She was very consistent when she was laying, about 5-6 eggs a week, the first two years. She still lays an egg every now and then, but has had a reoccurring health issue. However, at age three, she is a strong and happy little hen, which has helped her to persevere. She has received a status promotion, from high ranking flock member, to my personal pet chicken!

I mainly wanted to show off my beautiful Black Star, Amelia, who I obtained at TSC as a little chick earlier this year. I got her, another Black Star and 2 Red Stars at the same time and I must say that out of the chick broods that I've had (they were 3 of 4), they were the most docile to handle and adventurous group! At just 2 weeks, they were flying out of the brooder when it took my 2 older groups at least 4 weeks to start that. Unfortunately I lost 1 each of Black and Red to a fox, but Amelia and my remaining Red (Reba) have such great personalities and they are absolutely beautiful! Although she didn't start laying until around 30 weeks of age, she has been a consistent layer and her eggs are a lovely light brown. My friend who also has some Black Stars says she loves hers too! I would highly recommend this breed!

Currently we have one Black Star named Sylvia. She is one of my favs, because she is so friendly and funny. She is a stinker, going off on her own to explore on the porch and eat flowers. She is an adventurous chicken, and a reliable layer, usually laying when none of the others do, like in molt season or winter.

This is one of the first breeds of chickens I owned (and still have two lovely girls). They consistently lay large brown eggs. These birds are very active, and very curious. My favorite thing about them is how investigative they are. If I'm doing something in the yard, they will hang out and watch what I'm up to (and then precede to get in the way). They are fairly affectionate, and don't mind being handled. I also am a fan of their coloration, with the deep oily black tones with the striking orange/red feathers on their breast.

The only downside is that, as with all sex links, will not produce sex links. They're great egg produces, but unless you want a lot of mutt chickens they are useless breeding wise. I highly recommend these for first time chicken owners, as they are low maintenance and a blast to own.

I have two black sexlinks, and overall, they are fantastic birds. My two are a little neurotic, but they're overall friendly enough towards me, and put themselves to bed at 6 every night. I get very large brown eggs from them, they both lay almost daily (they are two next month). I will say that whenever someone is getting picked on, out of 8 birds, I can count on my BSLs to be involved somehow, either as the target or the perpetrator. It may just be my two, but it's the only reason I didn't give them a full five stars. They're tough little mother cluckers too-- my one survived an encounter with a raccoon reaching through the run wire and grabbing her, he tore her throat up pretty good. Cleaned her and applied Blukote, and she's good as new three months later. I am looking at cycling out some birds and getting new pullets this spring, but my sexlinks will be staying, they pull more than their weight.

I have had many Black Sexlinks over the last few years, and have mixed feelings about them. They are heavy egg layers of 200+ eggs a year, heavy built, and docile (typically). However after two years or so their egg productions plummets, sometimes stopping altogether. They are not super long lived birds, with an average lifespan of 4 or 5 years. I have found that they are more prone to problems my heritage breeds and Easter Eggers don't have any issues with, such as external parasites (and I imagine they are more prone to internal parasites as well), and obesity (which is usually an issue after they stop laying). Unless you are planning to keep hens for egg production and plan on culling them every two years, I can't recommend them.
The cockerels do make an excellent slow growing alternative to commercial broilers. I have had cockerels weigh 5-6+ lbs (dressed weight) at 18-24 months of age. However, they can be prone to aggression.
One handy pro of the BSL is that because they are sexlinked they can be sexed with 100% accuracy at a day old, so if you can't have roosters you are less likely to end up with one than with other breeds.

I only had one BSL pullet and she was a sweet, gentle girl until a stray dog finished her off at six months of age. My cockerels attack my husband, sons, and eventually even me for nothing more than walking by them or standing near them. I finally sent all the cockerels to freezer camp at eight months of age. The one cockerel left with my production red pullets is taking his job of taking care of his girls seriously now that he's not busy fighting with the competition. I think I wouldn't get BSL cockerels again but would love to have some BSL pullets if they are all like the one I lost. She was not laying but would have started any day so I can't comment on egg laying abilities but her disposition was wonderful and she was a gorgeous girl. On that note, all my neighbors comment on what beautiful birds my BSL cockerels are.

The title basically says it all. They are fantastic layers, usually an egg a day! They are cold hardy, and can stand the coldest temperatures. They can stand the heat, but don't like it, Plus, their dark plumage makes it harder for them. Another con: they are aggressive with other chicken breeds. Two of my BSL's are bullies, and are always picking on my Silkie. My other two aren't as bad, but are cranky. I would recommend them for someone who lives in a cold area and who want eggs year round. But not for someone who own birds like Polish and Silkie's.

I love this breed, and I highly recommend it to someone who is a beginner with chickens. They love and adore people, are very prolific throughout most of their life, and are usually good with other birds. They are easy to take care of since they are very large birds and can live off of their fat for a very long time. LOL! Just kidding! I think the only thing you need to watch out for in this breed is the fact that they are sometimes RIDICULOUSLY loud. They aren't loud all the time, but when they need food or have just laid an egg, they need to be shushed somewhat. Also, if you are considering getting a B.S.L., make sure that she is one of the first birds that you get since they are super sweet, and will not show their dominance to a large gathering of birds. This breed is great for beginners through pros, and I would place them next to the Buff Orpington on the 'must have' list. In my opinion, they deserve to be higher on the list than #24! I hope that this review is helpful to you!

I LOVE my black sex-links. If I was going to have one hybrid for the rest of my life, this would be it. We got four BSL and four CQ chicks, and all of them were super easy to raise. They matured quickly and started laying right around 16wks. We had one that would lay eggs 75 grams +, EVERY SINGLE TIME SHE LAID. If Batgirl laid a 50 gram egg, we considered it a wind egg . The other three laid extra large eggs as well, especially considering that they weren't as big as some of the other chickens we've had. Besides the fact that they are amazing layers, I LOVE their personalities. We had one named Ninja, and every time she saw a person she would totally blow her cover and come running for treats. I'd say the worst thing aboutthem is that they can be pretty nasty at night, but not as bad as I had heard they can be. I will definitely be getting this breed again.