Black sex links

[marsala]

Do black sex link babies develop a comb-like formation on their forehead? I am a new chick mom and am learning about chickens as I go. I had researched what breeds I wanted but when I got there to purchase, I ended up with ameraucanas and black sex links. I saw on one sight that males have a white mark on their head and females do not but the comb-like formation is scaring me- can't have roosters where I live. I have been trying to find images of adult female sex links(black) and am having no luck with regards to seeing if they develop this formation. Any info will help! Thank you...

 

[aoxa]

Black sex links are just that - sex-linked by colour. You should be safe.

How old are they? And all chicks have combs at a day old. They should all be the same size, even roosters. At 2 weeks + you might notice some boys having a more pink comb... I haven't experienced much comb growth before 3 weeks old.

 

[dretd]

Hey marsala:

Two great breeds as starters chickens! Aoxa id spot on in the color only sex link. If you use a chicken with a Rose or Pea comb in the parent cross, the comb of th babies will be a hybrid comb if it is crossed with a straight combed parent sp you can have a SL with a comb other than straight. And all chickens have combs.

The Ameraucanas you have (if they came from a commercial hatchery they are probably not standard colors and may not lay blue or green eggs, so folks 'round here refer to then as Easter Eggers or EE for short) will have a pea comb which is very small and cushion-y in comparison with your Sex Link straight-combed girls. so you are probably just seeing the difference in development between the two types of combs.

Here is a link to a very good website with lots of pictures of chickens: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html#Chickens

BYC has an info page about combs : https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/all-about-chicken-combs-single-pea-rose-v-shaped-etc

And here's an external page with some info and pictures (check out the difference in size between the single and pretty much all the others): http://urbanext.illinois.edu/eggs/res11-combs.html

Good luck on your adventure!

 

[marsala]

Thank you so much for that information!! I can't wait to check out the links...I am having so much fun with them. They all have different personalities that are developing as each day goes by. Took them outside the past 2 days to let them forage. when they got tired, they just all layed down and fell asleep. Will be looking to this site a lot, I think, in the next couple of months as my adventure continues....

 

[jlynnet]

My one that's not like the others is a rooster. He has more of the barred rock coloring. Not sure what I'm going to do with him. He's really nice right now. The females are all similar in color.

 

[marsala]

So far it looks like they are all girls and I am not too worried about the sex link any more. I am going to try and post a picture. They are beautiful!!!