Best chance at a pullet

[RubySue]

Mine seemed pretty good health wise. We had a couple that lived until 6+, and my Calico Princess is 2.5 currently and has no signs of her health beginning to fade

Are sex links pretty cold hardy?

 

[WI chickens]

I don't know. I'm in a hot climate.

California Whites have big, flopped-over combs from their Leghorn heritage so they might be subject to frostbite. I don't know enough about cold-tolerance to say.

Combs are a big no-no in my climate.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Are sex links pretty cold hardy?

We get -20F and -30F at night here more than a few tines during winter. I don't remember then old gals having issues and my princess now doesn't seem too upset about it.

 

[MGG]

I just saw you're from SD too! All of the sexlinks I've ever had get pretty bad frostbite here due to having larger combs. I stick with pea combed and rose combed birds pretty much exclusively after having most of my straight combed birds lose their combs. Even the hens with smaller straight combs suffer from frostbite. I did try a couple OEGBs this year though and so far they're doing ok.

 

[Raccoon lady]

Hello! So I have a question and thanks ahead of time. New chicken momma I want to get some more chicks. Which breed would be the most likely to be pullets when ordering pullets from a hatchery. In other words which are the easiest for them to sex with the highest accuracy.

I know there is a 90% accuracy but I’m down two birds out of six. So I need get more started. They would need to be cold hardy as well. I lost a blue egg layer so preferably no brown layers. Because I have mostly brown layers left. I was thinking I would like an olive egger of sorts, and even a white egg layer.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

beilefielder? they are autosexing, lay brown eggs, and are friendly. if you couldnt find any other chickens that lay blue, white, olive, or dark brown eggs.

 

[Raccoon lady]

https://greenfirefarms.com/auto-sex...oWww=1&redig=0C6D5CDF991547C2A4966FD37A79C57F
here are some more autosexing chicken breeds

 

[RubySue]

I just saw you're from SD too! All of the sexlinks I've ever had get pretty bad frostbite here due to having larger combs. I stick with pea combed and rose combed birds pretty much exclusively after having most of my straight combed birds lose their combs. Even the hens with smaller straight combs suffer from frostbite. I did try a couple OEGBs this year though and so far they're doing ok.

Awesome! Yes when I was reading I found it best to avoid large combs. Are you in western SD? I grew up in eastern so I know it doesn’t get quite as cold here, or at least feels as cold, mostly because of the lower humidity. I am right in the Black Hills near Rockerville.

I was given a brown leghorn by mistake instead of a Brahma pullet and HE has a nice big comb, has since he was 2 weeks I’ve been keeping an eye on it because we have had pretty cold temps the last couple weeks. Otherwise I have one EE who is a pullet, two Wyandottes, and a Plymouth Barred rock. They are all 8.5 weeks. So I am guessing the OEGB is an olive egger? Still new not sure what the GB is.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Awesome! Yes when I was reading I found it best to avoid large combs. Are you in western SD? I grew up in eastern so I know it doesn’t get quite as cold here, or at least feels as cold, mostly because of the lower humidity. I am right in the Black Hills near Rockerville.

I was given a brown leghorn by mistake instead of a Brahma pullet and HE has a nice big comb, has since he was 2 weeks I’ve been keeping an eye on it because we have had pretty cold temps the last couple weeks. Otherwise I have one EE who is a pullet, two Wyandottes, and a Plymouth Barred rock. They are all 8.5 weeks. So I am guessing the OEGB is an olive egger? Still new not sure what the GB is.

No, OEGB is Old English Game Bantam. Absolutely nothing to do with olive eggs

 

[MGG]

Awesome! Yes when I was reading I found it best to avoid large combs. Are you in western SD? I grew up in eastern so I know it doesn’t get quite as cold here, or at least feels as cold, mostly because of the lower humidity. I am right in the Black Hills near Rockerville.

I was given a brown leghorn by mistake instead of a Brahma pullet and HE has a nice big comb, has since he was 2 weeks I’ve been keeping an eye on it because we have had pretty cold temps the last couple weeks. Otherwise I have one EE who is a pullet, two Wyandottes, and a Plymouth Barred rock. They are all 8.5 weeks. So I am guessing the OEGB is an olive egger? Still new not sure what the GB is.

I'm in North Eastern SD.
If you can keep the coop dry and warm that's usually the best way to avoid frostbite. I've also heard that coating the combs and wattles in Vaseline on cold nights can help, but I've personally never tried it. The leghorn probably will get frostbite at least on the tips soon, but you could try the Vaseline and see if that helps.
Those breeds all do well here. BRs can get frostbite on the tips of their combs if they're very big, but they handle cold very well otherwise. I have ended up with some mixes and they do great too, they're good layers, have moderately feathered feet, and tiny pea combs.
In response to your original question, I'd find someone local selling young pullets of the breeds you want. You might even get lucky and find a breeder.

OEGBs are old English game bantams, as Jacin said.

 

[K0k0shka]

The sex links are the production birds that will lay like crazy but live short lives correct?

No, those are the Rhode Island Reds, Golden Comets, ISA Browns etc. Sex links are by their very nature a hybrid, not a pure breed of chicken, so they benefit from hybrid vigor to some extent (being healthier because of the increased gene diversity, as opposed to an inbred "pure" single breed).