Golden sex-link roo? 4 week old

[Growingthehome]

Okay, I know you are meant to tell the sex at birth by color, and this chick WAS colored as a pullet... but now that she (he?) is getting older its comb is SIGNIFICANTLY pinker than the rest of my birds. It IS, however, my first and only sex-link chick. So maybe they just develop faster? She/he is the same age of half my chicks (another half 2 weeks) and the largest of all my rest too. It is also (as seen in photos) the only one starting to get a waddle. But its feathers seem about the same in growth.
So did I somehow get a sex-link roster with female colors? Is that even possible?!

 

[The Moonshiner]

Looks like a cockerel to me.
What did it look like when you got it? Just curious to see. No a sex link isn't going to be the opposite sex color then change to what it should be.
I'm curious if its even a sex link.

 

[Growingthehome]

Looks like a cockerel to me.
What did it look like when you got it? Just curious to see. No a sex link isn't going to be the opposite sex color then change to what it should be.
I'm curious if it's even a sex link.

I don't have a photo of it as a baby baby sadly but it was yellowish with a slightly tan head and two tan lines down its back. It was definitely in the brooder of JUST golden sex-links at the feed store. Could they have mixed it up?

 

[chrissynemetz]

It does look like a cockerel, but I'm not sure it's a golden sex link either.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Like these?
These are golden comets and its a pretty distinct patten for gold sex links. If this is what it looked like I would say it is a GSL.
I've had many and boys were always pretty much straight yellow. Never had one like these feather in so white.

 

[Growingthehome]

Like these?
These are golden comets and its a pretty distinct patten for gold sex links. If this is what it looked like I would say it is a GSL.
I've had many and boys were always pretty much straight yellow. Never had one like these feather in so white.

View attachment 1761470

Yeah, I never got any before but I did lookup to make sure what I was getting was a pullet and I picks them out at the feed store so I KNOW its a GSL... at least to the best of my ability. She (he) looked more yellow then that but definitely had the strips and slightly red head like the other girls in the brooder. But, now she definitely looks like a cockerel. See how I could be confused. ha. Is it even possible that a male would have similar coloring... like, really rare but possible?

 

[The Moonshiner]

They're sex links because of the color not the pattern so the stripes aren't relevant since they're from pattern genes.
How it works is the gold vs silver. Breed a gold male to silver females.
The females only receive the gene from the rooster and only pass it to their male offspring. Roosters pass their genes to both sex offspring and receive genes from both parents.
The females get gold from their fathers and that's what gives them the brownish/reddish color.
The males get a gold gene from their fathers and silver gene from their mothers so they carry both genes. Silver is dominate to gold so it hides or covers it.
Now when those roosters mature they get the one copy of gold leaking through and instead of being as dark as with the females its usually more yellowish.
Now I haven't seen it but wouldn't see it as being impossible for a male chick to maybe having that one gold gene leak through some as a chick.
It should never be as much or as dark as a pullets color but I would say it may be just enough to not look as yellow as the cockerel chicks and get missexed. When I picked pullets I always picked the darkest or with the most color.

 

[Growingthehome]

They're sex links because of the color not the pattern so the stripes aren't relevant since they're from pattern genes.
How it works is the gold vs silver. Breed a gold male to silver females.
The females only receive the gene from the rooster and only pass it to their male offspring. Roosters pass their genes to both sex offspring and receive genes from both parents.
The females get gold from their fathers and that's what gives them the brownish/reddish color.
The males get a gold gene from their fathers and silver gene from their mothers so they carry both genes. Silver is dominate to gold so it hides or covers it.
Now when those roosters mature they get the one copy of gold leaking through and instead of being as dark as with the females its usually more yellowish.
Now I haven't seen it but wouldn't see it as being impossible for a male chick to maybe having that one gold gene leak through some as a chick.
It should never be as much or as dark as a pullets color but I would say it may be just enough to not look as yellow as the cockerel chicks and get missexed. When I picked pullets I always picked the darkest or with the most color.

very helpful! I that case, I think its likely he is a boy and just had light "girl" coloring. womp womp. I got two straight run road islands hoping one of those might be a cockerel our one of the red caps I'm going to be getting soon (since I want to help sustain the breed and breed them myself later down the road) so this poor man will likely be Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.