Commercially available sex links with colored eggs?

[Crystal37]

Sex linked is using two different breeds to create chicks with characteristics specific to their sex. Example a Rhode island red over a light Sussex for red sex links.

Autosexing is a breed that, when bred to the same breed, results in chicks with characteristics specific to their sex. Example crested cream legbars

Okay that's what I thought. Thank you.

 

[Fishkeeper]

There are several hatcheries that will sell chicks like that. You can order straight run or only males or only females. I have never this so I can't say for sure that you really do get only what you ordered. I just know they advertise it.

Also, I apologize for highjacking your thread with my sexing question, it's a bad habit, I'm trying to get better.

Commercial sexing methods, even when done perfectly, have about a 90% success rate. That means if you order 10 females, each chick has a 90% chance of being female. You could get 0 roosters, 1, 2, 3, even get incredibly unlucky and get half or more males. Statistically it would be possible to get 10 males, even with that 90% chance of female.

The only sexing methods that are 100% guaranteed are the genetic ones. Sex link chickens are hybrids between two breeds, which produce chicks that can be easily sexed at birth. For example, male red sex links are white at birth, females are sort of orangey-red. If you cross a sex link with another sex link, the resulting chicks are NOT sex links.
Auto sexing breeds are the same idea, but it's a breed. Cross one auto sexing chicken with another, and the chick sare all auto sexing.

 

[Crystal37]

Commercial sexing methods, even when done perfectly, have about a 90% success rate. That means if you order 10 females, each chick has a 90% chance of being female. You could get 0 roosters, 1, 2, 3, even get incredibly unlucky and get half or more males. Statistically it would be possible to get 10 males, even with that 90% chance of female.

The only sexing methods that are 100% guaranteed are the genetic ones. Sex link chickens are hybrids between two breeds, which produce chicks that can be easily sexed at birth. For example, male red sex links are white at birth, females are sort of orangey-red. If you cross a sex link with another sex link, the resulting chicks are NOT sex links.
Auto sexing breeds are the same idea, but it's a breed. Cross one auto sexing chicken with another, and the chick sare all auto sexing.

That is why I love this place. I learn something new everyday. Thank you for explaining that to me! I had been looking at different hatcheries that had that option because I'm like you, don't want to be over run with Roos that I don't need. I will now rethink my chicken choices. Thank you again.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Any of the *-bar will be autosexing and lay blue eggs.

A quick search of legbar Myers Hatchery brought up Cream Legbar. Other hatcheries have them and other "blank"bar birds.

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=CRLS

 

[The Moonshiner]

What are *-bar?
If you mean like rhodebar, welbar, wybar, cambar, etc. Its only the CCL that lay blue eggs.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Ooh, good to know about the __bars, some of them are beautiful. I like the "ice cream bars" I've seen.

That is why I love this place. I learn something new everyday. Thank you for explaining that to me! I had been looking at different hatcheries that had that option because I'm like you, don't want to be over run with Roos that I don't need. I will now rethink my chicken choices. Thank you again.

If you buy chicks that have been commercially sexed as female, and only ones sexed as female, you're likely to get a low number of roosters. Buy 10 "female" chicks, and you'll probably get something like 0-2 males. Most people eat any extra roosters or give them away to someone who will, there isn't much demand for roos that aren't a rare breed. If you don't mind a spare roo being eaten, there's no problem in buying commercially sexed chicks. I just couldn't stand to raise something from a baby and then give it away to be killed, ya know?

 

[Crystal37]

Ooh, good to know about the __bars, some of them are beautiful. I like the "ice cream bars" I've seen.



If you buy chicks that have been commercially sexed as female, and only ones sexed as female, you're likely to get a low number of roosters. Buy 10 "female" chicks, and you'll probably get something like 0-2 males. Most people eat any extra roosters or give them away to someone who will, there isn't much demand for roos that aren't a rare breed. If you don't mind a spare roo being eaten, there's no problem in buying commercially sexed chicks. I just couldn't stand to raise something from a baby and then give it away to be killed, ya know?

I was raised like that, we raised meet rabbits and chickens so I don't really mind eating something that I've raised. It was normal. My kids have not been raised like that. A few years ago I got chickens and turkeys with the understanding that any extra males would be food. I bought 4 turkeys at first, they all ended up being males, they all ended up with names and were lap birds. I sold a bunch of extras Roos, but got talked into keeping "favorites". Hens would disappear then come back with babies and the madness started all over. I would like to avoid that all together. Lol I was thinking about having a mixed flock that each laid a different colored egg.

Right now I have 4 straight run ducks. ( wish me luck on those! )

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What are *-bar?
If you mean like rhodebar, welbar, wybar, cambar, etc. Its only the CCL that lay blue eggs.

Huh, well they are all autosexing. Thought for sure a few more of em layed blue. Oh well, cream legbar is the choice then. Apparently Gold Legbar lay white eggs.

Astrix (*) are used for any prefix in computer speak. Like if you know the file you're looking for is a j-peg but can't remember the name search *.jpg and only the Jpeg files in folder come up to narrow it down.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Huh, well they are all autosexing. Thought for sure a few more of em layed blue. Oh well, cream legbar is the choice then. Apparently Gold Legbar lay white eggs.

Astrix (*) are used for any prefix in computer speak. Like if you know the file you're looking for is a j-peg but can't remember the name search *.jpg and only the Jpeg files in folder come up to narrow it down.

Ya the cream legbars had Araucana thrown in their mix so that's where the blue eggs and crests came from.
Always thought it was odd that the gold and silver legbars weren't also bred to lay blue eggs.

 

[GaryDean26]

Ya the cream legbars had Araucana thrown in their mix so that's where the blue eggs and crests came from.
Always thought it was odd that the gold and silver legbars weren't also bred to lay blue eggs.

The Gold Legbar Project started in the 1920. The goal of the project was to produce a breed that would be as productive as the commercial Leghorns and be auto sexing.

The Silver Legbar was developed a few years after the gold legbar.

It wasn't until 1927 that the Botanist Clarence Eliot traveled to South America to search for new plants to import to the UK. He brought back two barn yard mixed hens from Chile that both laid blue eggs. They were donated for research. Only only hen was breed successfully and she proved to not be pure for the blue egg gene. half of her offspring laid white eggs. A formal study was made on the blue eggs. in that study a new colored plumage was discovered. It was called cream. A few years after the blue egg project was complete a formals study was done on the cream plumage. The cream gene was introduced into Brown Leghorns to produce Cream Light Brown Leghorns that the cream gene could be preserved in in case it was needed for future study. It wasn't need until after the Gold and Silver Legbars were already established and growing in popularity. Some sport cream colored birds popped out of the Gold Legbar research and the cream legbars that laid white eggs and were non-crested were crossed with the Cream Light brown Leghorns which apparently still had some blue egg genes and cresting genes in them. The Blue egg laying crested legbars were a spin off of the Cream Legbars x Cream Light Brown Leghorns.

So the Gold and Silver Legbars were not developed with the blue eggs because no blue egg laying chickens existed anywhere in the UK when they were established.

The Blue eggs came around before the Cream Legbar was a standard breed though. The Cream Legbar got a written standard in the 1950's. The Auracana breeds didn't get a breed standard until the 1970's so when you say the Legbars were crossed with Auracana you are not referring to the Auracana breeds we have today but rather mixes that came from flocks in Chile that carried blue egg genes as first described among the Auracana Indians by European missionaries. The Chilean hen that the Cream Legbar descended from did not have a pea comb, was not rumpless, did not have a beard or muffs, and did not have ear tuffs.