black sexlink or austrolorp?

[adrianapost]

So I just recently bought my first two hens about a year old and the person I bought them from said one was a rhode island red and one a black sexlink. I'm happy with them and they both lay but someone told me that my black sexlink was an austrolorp..someone help me! She is all black and in the sun glistens green and her neck has some copper color too. What is she?! Also.. ijust bought a rooster and they said he's a black maran. I brought him home and noticed he had the EXACT same markings as my unkown hen!

Help help help lol

 

[BlazeJester]

Your hen is a black sex link. Australorps do not have any red at all.

Your rooster probably is a BCM. They're really popular and many people don't want or can't have roosters. His offspring should lay darker eggs than their moms.

 

[gryeyes]

You are describing a black sex-link, which is not a breed so much as a cross-breed from two parent birds whose chicks are colored according to their sex. The males are all one color, females another, for fool-proof sexing.

Someone who actually understands the genetics of different breeds can probably explain how sex-links are "made" (which parent stock throws sex linked chicks).

Black Australorps should not have the copper, red or brown collar / neck feathers, but be all black (iridescent in the sun, just like any black feathers on any breed).

 

[adrianapost]

Thank you! I have so much more to learn!