Are All Cross-Bred Chickens Sex-Linked?

[Bulletproof Roo]

I didn't do well with my first effort at incubating eggs collected from my hens. I started with seven, and only hatched out three, one of which was so badly deformed (to include eyelessness and heavily leaking bodily fluids) that I had to perform euthanasia. The other two are perfect little chicks (now five days old).

My title question is asked because one is solid black (the white wing tips she hatched with are fading away fast) and the other is light golden brown with narrow, black, length-wise, stripes. They are both from a cross between Rhode Island Red hens and an Australorp rooster. Can I assume that their color differences indicate that one is a rooster and the other is a hen, since "sex-linkage" is a characteristic of cross bred chickens? If so, is there a way to tell which color is the rooster and which is the hen? Or is sex-linkage only a characteristic of certain specific crosses? Thanks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Not all, here is a thread that may help you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

 

[Bulletproof Roo]

Wow! That's some complicated stuff. This is the reason I dropped pre-med genetics in college.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I think you'll find the striped one will grow up to be a RIR and the black one will be an Australorp and that sex links are only for a few specific breeds. Notice I said "I think."

 

[Bulletproof Roo]

I think you'll find the striped one will grow up to be a RIR and the black one will be an Australorp and that sex links are only for a few specific breeds. Notice I said "I think."

Thanks, but that's not technically possible, i.e., they are both crosses between the two. Clearly, the black one will more resemble a pure Australorp and the other will more resemble a pure Rhode Island Red. My question, however, was whether or not the color difference meant conclusively that one was a rooster and the other a hen, and (if possible to determine) which was which. It seems, if I understand the responses so far, that it's just not certain, since the cross wasn't of the type to produce the sex-linkage characteristic.

 

[Bullitt]

It seems, if I understand the responses so far, that it's just not certain, since the cross wasn't of the type to produce the sex-linkage characteristic.

Yep. You will just have to wait until they are older to determine if they are male or female.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Thanks, but that's not technically possible, i.e., they are both crosses between the two.  Clearly, the black one will more resemble a pure Australorp and the other will more resemble a pure Rhode Island Red.   

Well yeah, that's what I meant, they will *resemble.* It's obvious they won't be purebreeds. Sorry for the confusion.

My question, however, was whether or not the color difference meant conclusively that one was a rooster and the other a hen, and (if possible to determine) which was which. It seems, if I understand the responses so far, that it's just not certain, since the cross wasn't of the type to produce the sex-linkage characteristic.

I concur.