Hello from Maryland!

silcoxalb

In the Brooder
5 Years
Feb 23, 2014
16
1
24
Hello, everyone!
I have been lurking for over a year, and thought that I would finally introduce myself.
I am asilcox from MD - a first time flock owner. I have 6 black sex links that I have raised from chicks. They are 18 weeks - I'm hoping that they begin laying soon! Unfortunately, despite all 6 having solid black heads at the time of purchase, and all 6 still "female colored", one of them is crowing - my husband is trying to re-home her(him?)
Aside from that wrinkle, I am loving my pullets, and this whole experience! BYC has been tremendously helpful!
Asilcox
 
Welcome to BYC! Most of us spend some time lurking before finally joining. Black Sex Links are my favorite chickens; hardy, friendly, and egg-laying machines. Can you post a picture of the crowing "female colored BSL." It should be impossible to mistake BSL hens and roosters. The hens are black with some reddish (or brownish) feathers in the neck area and the males look like Barred Rocks. I have heard of rare cases where hens have crowed. Usually it turns out to be roosters mistaken for hens, but in this case it the gender should be easy to verify.
 
400

Here she is...crows every morning at 5:30, for an hour. And crows off and on all day.
I am wondering if perhaps she was mislabeled and is some other type of breed altogether?
 
That, unfortunately, is not a BSL - or a hen. The "female BSL coloring" would include a copper collar, which this bird does not have. You have a solid black breed cockerel there.
 
Percheron chick,
I think that you must be right. I keep getting hung up on the literature that says that BSL cockerels are barred, and this chicken is not. I trusted TSC to sell me BSL pullets. So... What type (breed) of chicken do you suppose it is?
The whole reason that we got BSL was to avoid this. The neighbors are a tad irritated...
 
One has the copper collar, one has a tiny comb but is all black. The other 3 are also all black with no rust, yet. Red combs, but no crowing. I will get more pics tomorrow. I only had this pic because the DH is trying to rehome. I am bummed right now...do you think that I have any recourse with TSC?
 
BA and BSL chicks look nothing alike. That should of been the first clue. Do you have pictures from when they were little? BA are black with white bellies and wing tips while the BSL pullets would of been black with a yellow dot on the head. TSC should have the standard policy of not taking back cockerels but you can always ask.

Don't be bumming. This is pretty normal stuff and you've learned from the experience. The kids working at TSC know even less than you do. Chicks fall out of the bins, get mixed up in shipment and let's be honest, a lot of chicks look a lot alike even to the educated eye. The BAs will be lovely hens that won't burn out as fast as the SLs and still give you a nice big brown egg 5 days a week.
 

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