Black Sex Links

[branston]

What color eggs do the black sexlinks lay? I was told "black legs, blue eggs" but have a sneaky suspician that one of my three sexlinks is laying brown eggs?

 

[ChicKat]

Your sneaky suspicion is right IMO.

There's more than one way to get black sex link, so I hear, but if it is the one I learned about it is Rhode Island Red rooster and Barred Plymouth Rock hen. Both are brown egg layers. I think Black Sexlinks are beautiful, I'd love to get one.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It would be very unlikely to get a blue egg.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are lots of different ways to get black sex links, but there is absolutely no link between black sex links and blue eggs. There is no real link with black legs and blue eggs. Some, not all but some, blue or green egg layers tend to have slate colored legs, but mine had yellow legs. The genetics between the barring that makes a black sex link (lack of barring in the hen), the leg color, and the egg shell color are unrelated.

I'd very much expect brown eggs from black sex links.

 

[ChickiKat]

I just noticed the other day that the bottom of the feet of my BSL has two black twos and the center toe is yellow... kind of amused me...

 

[branston]

Thanks guys! Chickat........my 3 black sexlinks are the sweetest hens, I'd definitely reccomend getting some. We have one hen (we think shes a Holland Rock) that developed a crooked beak at 5 weeks and we have been hand feeding her ever since. It was hard at first for both of us, adapting to syringe feeding, and she'd sometimes dribble the liquid food down her neck feathers. I'd wash her off every time but the others still tried to pick at her neck. One of our Sexlinks, Sticky, is the real mother hen of the flock and she took to sleeping with our crooked beak with her neck over the back of crooked beak's neck so the others couldn't get to her! They follow each other around and stick together while free ranging and Sticky won't let a rooster near our crooked beak! It's quite amazing to watch, very sweet!

 

[ChicKat]

Quote:
That is so amazing. What a lovely hen. Now you have made me want to get one even more!! I have 2 Barred Plymouth Rocks----and when getting them, I thought that if I wanted a breeding program, I would only need to expose them to a RIR rooster and voila! The babies would be black sex links.

I love your Sticky, and how patient of you to hand feed etc. Your chickens are very fortunate. ---- Somehow that story should be preserved. It isn't always a dog-eat-dog world in Chickendom!

Thanks for writing it.

 

[Desert Rooster]

yes, they lay brown eggs

 

[Lothiriel]

They lay brown eggs, sometimes with a light pink tint. I doubt if you'll ever see a blue or black egg from a BSL!