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Star

Black Star and Red Star are trade names used for hybrids of two other recognized breeds, not...

General Information

Breed Purpose
Dual Purpose
Comb
Single
Broodiness
Seldom
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
High
Egg Size
Large
Egg Color
Brown
Breed Temperament
Friendly,Easily handled,Calm,Bears confinement well,Docile
Breed Colors/Varieties
Black and
Red
Breed Size
Large Fowl
Black Star and Red Star are trade names used for hybrids of two other recognized breeds, not itself an APA recognized breed. They are one of many hybrids more commonly called Red Sex-Linked or Black Sex-links.

Typically a red male chicken breed is crossed with a white or barred female to breed them.

Crossing a Rhode Island Red male and a Delaware female makes a Red Star. By crossing a Rhode Island Red male and a Barred Plymouth Rock female, a Black Star is created.

Latest reviews

Terrible Breed!!!
Pros: NOTHING!!!
Cons: Die at 1 year old
Start laying soon but die
Prone to health problems
Practically factory made!
I am really NOT impressed with the ISA Brown chickens or any related forum of them.
Wouldn't Buy Again
Pros: Solid layers the first year
Cons: Aggressive to flock mates, have issues laying after year 2, health problems
The Red Stars are my least favorite breed that I currently have. Sure, they laid great their first two years. However, I have one that continuously lays a soft egg and no amount of calcium or calcium pills have helped. I'm seriously considering culling her, due to her bullying nature. They are incredibly aggressive to other members of the flock. The high rate of egg production is just not worth the amount of issues that they have.
Purchase Date
Feb 2020
The star of the show
Pros: Sweet
good layers
cuteies
good 4 kids
Cons: Not always nice 2 hens
molts a lot
loud
Ruby, our hen is adorbs! we love her a lot. She clucks and squacks a lot. Pretty loud.

Comments

Great egg layerers. I have Black and Red sexlinks, with the black being my favorite. I have found the reds to be a little more aggressive than the blacks. I have 37 in my current flock.
 
I agree! The reds are more aggressive then the blacks. If I had to purchase them again, I would have gotten all black.
 
I have seen that occur, and I contacted Animal Law Enforcement, and the Animal Control Officer, the stores cleaned up their acts quickly.
 
Your girls are cute! & I'm sure they are very blessed that you find themI think mine are Black Stars too ... buy them from a friend a week ago along with a gorgeous roo that I named Cheb Coco' ( the girls dont have names yet)
 
I have 2 black sex links and they are my favorites too. They always come running out of the run first.
 
Our one sex link, I think inherited the barre rock genes, she is so **** friendly, hops on the top of the dog house (I have several dog houses ain the fenced in areas for the chickens, if they want to get awa, due to inclement weather, also I put their food in the houses during inclement weather, as some of them do not want to be cooped up, even though the doors are open.
She jumps along with the white rocks, australops onto the dog house, and wants attenetion. Las Spring the specikled suxxes I purchased turned out to be a rooster, ( I do not want roosters, due to having young grandkids around and for me they are a pain)
so, our daughter brought the two kiddos to the grain store, to pick out two more chickens, one picked another barred rock
and one the sex link.
I am planning at this time to get more sex links and barred rocks. Once again, I need to make sure they can withstand a typical Mass, winter like last year and the prior year. This year, I will say is so very mild temps in the 50's again.
Any feedback on tolerance for very cold weather and also, we can have very hot weather in streaks so, any opinions. Appreciated.
Sandi
 
They look like my black sex link who is 9 months old.
I made typo errors , in previous post. After three years of having baby chicks, I smartened up last year, purchased a large rubber tug that holds 40 gallons of water, used on farms, with second batch of babies last year, I added pine shavings, and alot easier than a wire cage and reems of newspapers to change daily.
 
i have three,they are very sweet and friendly and continued to lay all winter.planning to get three more this spring.
 
Thanks for the info on Black Stars. I am thinking of getting these birds. My coop is a good distance from the house which may be something I appreciate.
 
I've only ever had Black Stars. When I compare my girls to those who live with other back-yarders I can only say, these ladies are the BEST. Sweet natured, responsive to care, superb layers even without extra lighting in the winter, and better amusement than cable.
 
Another thing to consider is that since the Stars are essentially crossbreds of a red breed and a barred breed (black star) or a red breed with a white or silver breed (Red Star), you can have a lot of variation in personalities, production, etc. Mine were all Black Stars produced by a commercial hatchery that was crossing Rhode Island Reds with Barred Rocks. We later produced something very close to a black star by crossing the Buff Orpington with the Barred Rock. Now those were EXCELLENT hens! They inherited the calmer demeanor and soft feathers of the BO, but the sturdiness of the rock.
 
BO with Barred Rock. That does sound like a good mix. I'm new to chickens and probably won't get into breeding. With some luck I'll get some Black Stars that are good layers with fairly friendly personalities.
 
That is good to hear as I have 25 of them being shipped to me next week sometime and I hope for some good layers. 22 are females and 3 males.
 
I enjoyed my red stars, too. One of them used to regularly come in the house if the door was opened. She would actually start running towards the house even if she was way across the yard. Sometimes she would slip in by hiding under the dogs as they came in....haha! Their curiosity will also get them into trouble. If any of my chickens were to escape my yard or get stuck somewhere it was one of the red stars.
 
I also have Black Stars and one Red Star. They're all great layers and very friendly. My Red Star is definitely the "trouble maker" and instigator of all sorts of chicken mayhem. She loves to come in the house too and I'm constantly shooing her away from the door. She's definitely the most intelligent and vocal of my little flock.
 
Mayhem is the only way I can describe Gertrude, the Red Star. Two quick stories; to set the stage, I have a flock of four who generally live in my smallish suburban backyard and sometimes hang out in our front yard. Recently, I opened the side door to my garage and Gertrude was standing in wait. She raced through the garage as fast as her wobbly little rear end would take her and dove under my slightly opened front garage door sideways, Indiana Jones style.
Also, she recently had some egg laying anxiety (probably not egg bound) so I soaked her in a warm bath and set her on some towels in an old basket I had in my bedroom. She fussed about for a bit, but then relaxed and layed her egg. The next day, she was pacing in front of my sliding glass door. When I opened the door she strolled over to the basket and starting fussing around and complaining loadly because I had replaced the books it usually holds. I removed the books, and placed some towels in it. She climbed in, but was still not satisfied. I then realized that I didn't replace the BLUE towel she had sat on the previous day. The blue towel made all of the difference. This went on for about a week with her tapping on my back door each morning so she could stroll in and lay her egg. We finally broke the habit when we went out of town for a few days and my son tended to the chickens. Yes, Gertrude is one spoiled Red Star.
 
Ditto to everything Californiagirl has to say about sex links. I only have one in my flock of six hens and she is just like all of that, plus a little bossy - to the point of feather pecking. She is incredibly unafraid and friendly and if I leave the back door open, I often come back to shoo her out of the house. She's underfoot in the garden. She will steal an apple or sandwich in a heartbeat. She's not a bit afraid of our 120 lb dog and pecks him on the nose if he gets too close. When she first started laying sometimes she would lay two or three in a day, plus double and triple yolkers. Now her body has settled in and matured and she lays one perfect egg EVERY day, even during winter. She is a tiny powerhouse and she has been that way from the first day we brought her home as a chick.
 
In my first flock, I only had two red stars, one of whom was eaten by the neighborhood fox. My other red star is now four years old and I still love her more than any of the other breeds I have. This year we were ready for a few new chicks to add to our tiny flock and I insisted that they all be red stars. Some other breeds may be more showy, but in my experience, this breed is the sweetest, easiest to pick up, friendliest towards children, and most curious companions in the garden.
 

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Chicken Breeds
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