EE sex link questions.

[ChrisS]

So I am wanting to breed chickens this summer, I really like the blue wheaten ameraucanas. But I want sex link chickens cause I dont want a bunch of roos running around. Is there any breed I can cross with the blue wheaten either roo or hen to get an EE sex link that still looks similar to the blue wheaten?

 

[Illia]

Yep.

Now first I will say, even breeding pure Wheatens and Blue Wheatens is still a good deal, as you can sex males from females by color as soon as they're mostly feathered out, sometimes after the first couple weeks.

But for sex-linking you can always use either Silver Duckwing hens or something like Salmon Faverolle hens. The only difficulty is that with using Wheaten based colors like Salmon, the chicks will be yellow in birth no matter what, so, the duckwing would work better but not by much. Your best bet is to either go with Blue Duckwings instead of Blue Wheatens or Blue Quails, they'll look more like Wheatens than pure duckwings, and still be more recognizeable as chicks. Both Quail and Duckwing are, well, duckwing based so the chick is easier to sex by color.

Wheatens just aren't the best color to use if you want to sex at birth, honestly. But they are indeed great for sexing beyond 2 weeks old. In fact they're easiest as a stand-alone Wheaten/Blue Wheaten without using sex-linking.