breeding the sexlink to sexlink

[father time]

i have read so many post on here about this and there were a lot of good articles and information on this topic so i decided to throw my two cents in. several years ago i picked up four sexlink pullets from a friend. he bred a rosecomb riw roo over rir hens as you know those whites are very hard to come by. both were heritage lines and happened to lay pretty good. they were the best laying chickens i have ever put my hands on and i have had isas and hy-lines but these were better. i did pick up a young roo from him also that was the same. i bred these together and through selection for the best layers continued to breed back to parent stock each breeding developing two lines one white and one red. now i prefer to breed young birds but having to go back to what i call my parent stock they slow down a little. so i perk them up a little to help the fertility. after a few generations of doing this i crossed the two lines back into each other and got as good or better than what i started with. they lay large eggs and lots of them. and yes i can color sex them although my main objective was very good layers. one key factor most people miss is put enough on ground to select the best to continue on.it takes time and space. i do not consider myself a master breeder but i have learned an awful lot since breeding chickens,horses and dogs since 1969. at present i have heritage rir in the straight comb and rose combs and working on delawares which are starting to come around and just got some light sussex . im not in the wholesale chicken business i breed these just to prove to myself i can. in putting a few thousand chickens on the ground i have learned a little but more to go.

 

[1muttsfan]

I'm a big fan of good Delawares, but they are hard to find - I have had some nice birds from Sand Hill Preservation.

You might enjoy reading through this thread, started by the great breeder Bob Blosl - he was a great gentleman and teacher of breeding for quality birds.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/400344/bob-blosls-heritage-large-fowl-thread

 

[father time]

i have been working on my delawares for about four years now thefirst i got was from ideal and no telling what was used to make them. so i picked up a young roo from a friend in louisiana who got his from some one in texas thats a breeder. not knowing exactly how they were bred and how or what they did is a little harder. i have to say i was surprised that my hens i raised from ideal had very good markings and layed good but medium size eggs. they had every thing going for them but had white legs. the young roo i got was a very nice specimen with yellow legs broad back nice head and good markings and about eight pounds. i continued breeding back on his line and now getting some nice birds. the draw back on them are the roos can get a little nasty with you kinda feisty as they will hit you. i bred some of the pullets to my heritage rir and got 29 red pullets that were color sexed and 23 roos that were all color sexed when hatched. these pullets were very nice and are laying really good but only medium sized eggs. i gave the old roo to a friend and now working with a young roo i had given to my brother i might add that the red pullets looked a lot like rir in every way but were red sexlinks.i sold them when people saw them they wanted more than i had. i still have the stock to work with but trying to maintain three to four different lines is tough when i need a hip replacement. hatchery chickens lay the best but you should always try to get some stock from a breeder at least one side of line.if you know what to do you can get there.

 

[birds4kids]

I got a Delaware that was sold as an olive egger on Craigs list she gives us the biggest eggs and of the birds I can individually identify eggs from she is most consistent, confident, not flighty at all, not what she was supposed to be but still very happy and she is hilarious with the kids.