Are my gold sex links really RIR?

[misshell]

My cousin and I both got chickens we were told were gold sex links. Only mine are brown with a few black feathers and hers are brown with some white feathers. So which is it? Who has the gold sex links? And who was lied to? Here is a picture of one of my girls... what do you think she is?

 

[black_cat]

That looks like a new hampshire red.

 

[Willow2253]

That doesn’t look quite like a RIR, it looks a little light to me. Gold sex links are made by crossing Rhode Island reds and whites, so they may have some colors from both of their parents. Did you and your cousin get them from different sources?

 

[NatJ]

My cousin and I both got chickens we were told were gold sex links. Only mine are brown with a few black feathers and hers are brown with some white feathers. So which is it? Who has the gold sex links? And who was lied to? Here is a picture of one of my girls... what do you think she is?

"Gold Sexlink" refers to a certain type of chicken: someone crosses two breeds such that the female chicks are red/gold, and the male chick are mostly white. That makes it easy to tell the sex of the chicks. But because there are quite a few ways to cross breeds to get that result, then some have black feathers like yours and some have white feathers like hers. The ones with some white feathers are more common, but both kinds definitely exist.

Based on the picture, you could have a Gold Sexlink, or a Rhode Island Red, or a New Hampshire, or a Production Red. All of them are good egg layers.

 

[misshell]

That doesn’t look quite like a RIR, it looks a little light to me. Gold sex links are made by crossing Rhode Island reds and whites, so they may have some colors from both of their parents. Did you and your cousin get them from different sources?

We got them from the same feed but two weeks apart so different batches

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Red Sexlink of some sort. There are different variations.

 

[misshell]

"Gold Sexlink" refers to a certain type of chicken: someone crosses two breeds such that the female chicks are red/gold, and the male chick are mostly white. That makes it easy to tell the sex of the chicks. But because there are quite a few ways to cross breeds to get that result, then some have black feathers like yours and some have white feathers like hers. The ones with some white feathers are more common, but both kinds definitely exist.

Based on the picture, you could have a Gold Sexlink, or a Rhode Island Red, or a New Hampshire, or a Production Red. All of them are good egg layers.

Thank you! I’m very fond of this breed so far. I definitely want great egg production but I also want more birds and would like to know what they actually are.

 

[black_cat]

Thank you! I’m very fond of this breed so far. I definitely want great egg production but I also want more birds and would like to know what they actually are.

Where did you get them? People here have given you some pretty good suggestions for breed. All of those breed are extremely high production- you're going to be getting loads of eggs from her regardless. If you want to buy chicks with a good breed and gender guarantee, I would use a hatchery over a farm store, friend, or breeder.

 

[NatJ]

I also want more birds and would like to know what they actually are.

You will probably never know for sure. They all lay brown eggs, have lower legs no feathers, legs usually yellow, earlobes red, comb single--most of the usual ways to distinguish chicken breeds completely fail in this case. Some people call them all "reds" and leave it at that.

But any of the breeds that it "could" be will be a good choice for more birds with similar traits.

 

[misshell]

Where did you get them? People here have given you some pretty good suggestions for breed. All of those breed are extremely high production- you're going to be getting loads of eggs from her regardless. If you want to buy chicks with a good breed and gender guarantee, I would use a hatchery over a farm store, friend, or breeder.

Thank you! I got them from the local feed. They have great temperaments so far.