Are sexlink chicks always distinguishable?

[yoie]

The reason I ask is I have a red sexlink, I think that's what everyone determined it to be, has big red wattles and the comb is turning pink at only 4 weeks old! Here she is when I brought her home

this pick was taken today

 

[Ridgerunner]

Are red sex links always distinguishable? Yes, but.......

First, the parents have to be pure in the silver and gold genes. The hen has to have silver and the rooster has to have two golds, otherwise you cannot make red a sex link.

Sometimes the difference is night and day. Sometimes the difference is so small that you have to see the two chicks side by side to be sure which is which. Say you use a Buff Orp rooster for the gold. The red females can look awfully yellow.

You have something else working there. I suspect there is probably dominant white in the mix. Sometimes that can make it harder to determine the difference.

Here is a shot of chicks from my Speckled Sussex rooster over a Delaware hen. There are some others in there so I am not absolutely sure which is the red sex llink pullet. I think it is the one in the top right corner, but it could be the red one on the bottom, or maybe both were. But all three yellow chicks there were males from that mix and were sex link males. You'll notice that one of the males had some reddish down but were easily distinguished from the red females.

I don't know where it was determined that this was a red sex link chick. You cannot tell by looking at a chick if it is a sex link or not. You have to know something about the parents or its origins to have a clue. If the rooster were silver and the hen were gold, the chick of either sex could look a lot like yours.

 

[yoie]

It came from the red pullets bin at TSC, so it might be a red sexlink or ....

 

[DixieChickie]

My red hens came from TSC and looked just klike your chick....they got big red wattles and combs pretty early...I was terrified I had gotten all roos, even though they were marked as red pullets. But every one of them are hens and lay well for me. I am told they are Red Stars, I have no idea if that is another name for red sex links. My profile picture is my favorite red hen, Brittaney, she's a sweet heart and was outgoing from the day I broguht her home.....I swore many times she was a he in disguise, til I saw her lay an egg. LOL

 

[Ridgerunner]

That chick is still in the "vulture" phase. It looks kind of rooish just based on configuration but I would not be certain that it is a rooster yet. I think it is still too young for any real distinguishing characteristics. I've had some pullets develop wattles at a pretty young age. The jury is still out. Don't give up hope.

If it came from TSC red pullet pen, I suspect it is a red sex link. Those chicks came from a hatchery so the only crosses should be sex links. That looks like a cross to me. I don't know of any pure breed that looks like that. Just knowing where it comes from makes me lean toward pullet.

There is nothing that requires hatcheries to name specific crosses any one thing. Yes, Cinnamon Queens should be a specific cross, or maybe Golden Comets should be specific crosses, but there is no sex link police going from hatchery to hatchery slapping hands or handing out fines for mis-naming their crosses. Star is used by a lot of hatcheries for their sex links, but that "Star" in the name is so common it really does not tell you who the parents were. It usually means sex link though.