How to tell if the chicks a boy or girl

[Chickenfarmer 1-2-b]

May be I will try this when I get home today:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4700001_sex-chicken.html

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
WHAT!!!????? So I guess what you're trying to say is that all Dekalb Amberlinks are pullets????Am I lost???

The hatcheries are selling the female (pullet) offspring from the sex link pairings that create Amberlinks.

Do you know what a sex link is? It is when a male and female bird produce offspring that can be sexed by their coloring at hatching. One color for males another for females.
Without this sexlinking trait, all chicks pretty much look the same from similar parent stock. These are what are called straight run chicks.

Since egg laying females are the most desirable these days, sex link chicks have become very popular. Basically when you order a sexlink, you are getting a known egg layer, and who doesn't want that? So, the hatcheries simply pluck the femaleAmberlinks right from the hatching trays by color, and send them on to order processing.
So when you order Amberlinks, you are buying these females (pullets.)

PS Nature ensures a roughly 50:50 male/female hatch rate with all chickens, including sex links. 100 chicks = 50 males and 50 females (approximately).
In other words for every female Amberlink chick, there is a male counterpart hatched.

Since people buy sex links for egg laying (pullets), the unwanted males (cockerels) present something of a problem for the hatcheries. I'll leave you to imagine what happens to them.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
What they failed to tell you is this need to be done within hours of hatching.After 24 hours or so, this wont work.
Hatcheries do it immediately after hatching.

 

[chkinut]

Quote:
What they failed to tell you is this need to be done within hours of hatching.After 24 hours or so, this wont work.
Hatcheries do it immediately after hatching.

ditto on that

 

[Mr chicken dude]

Quote:
WHAT!!!????? So I guess what you're trying to say is that all Dekalb Amberlinks are pullets????Am I lost???

The hatcheries are selling the female (pullet) offspring from the sex link pairings that create Amberlinks.

Do you know what a sex link is? It is when a male and female bird produce offspring that can be sexed by their coloring at hatching. One color for males another for females.
Without this sexlinking trait, all chicks pretty much look the same from similar parent stock. These are what are called straight run chicks.

Since egg laying females are the most desirable these days, sex link chicks have become very popular. Basically when you order a sexlink, you are getting a known egg layer, and who doesn't want that? So, the hatcheries simply pluck the femaleAmberlinks right from the hatching trays by color, and send them on to order processing.
So when you order Amberlinks, you are buying these females (pullets.)

PS Nature ensures a roughly 50:50 male/female hatch rate with all chickens, including sex links. 100 chicks = 50 males and 50 females (approximately).
In other words for every female Amberlink chick, there is a male counterpart hatched.

Since people buy sex links for egg laying (pullets), the unwanted males (cockerels) present something of a problem for the hatcheries. I'll leave you to imagine what happens to them.

Mkay so what color are Amberlinks when they are chicks so is a male yellow and a female white?????

Thanks for the info

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
The hatcheries are selling the female (pullet) offspring from the sex link pairings that create Amberlinks.

Do you know what a sex link is? It is when a male and female bird produce offspring that can be sexed by their coloring at hatching. One color for males another for females.
Without this sexlinking trait, all chicks pretty much look the same from similar parent stock. These are what are called straight run chicks.

Since egg laying females are the most desirable these days, sex link chicks have become very popular. Basically when you order a sexlink, you are getting a known egg layer, and who doesn't want that? So, the hatcheries simply pluck the femaleAmberlinks right from the hatching trays by color, and send them on to order processing.
So when you order Amberlinks, you are buying these females (pullets.)

PS Nature ensures a roughly 50:50 male/female hatch rate with all chickens, including sex links. 100 chicks = 50 males and 50 females (approximately).
In other words for every female Amberlink chick, there is a male counterpart hatched.

Since people buy sex links for egg laying (pullets), the unwanted males (cockerels) present something of a problem for the hatcheries. I'll leave you to imagine what happens to them.

Mkay so what color are Amberlinks when they are chicks so is a male yellow and a female white?????

Thanks for the info

I wish I knew. This is the first time I've heard of 'Amberlinks.'
If the hatchery advertising is accurate, they are a recent introduction into the market, originally from South Africa. They are 'reverse crosses of parent stock,' according to what I can find. This is very vague and really tells us little as to their breeding.

Im guessing the chicks are yellow at birth (white birds invariably are), while the males probably have a dark spot or stripes over yellow. But I am not certain of that, and I dont not know what the parent stock is. Right now, I'd call them a "trade secret."

I did find that they are not renowned for their large eggs, instead being prized for their feathering ability. This latter trait is said to be desirable where the birds are to be free-ranged out of doors. The white coloring is also thought to reduce feahter pulling among densely managed flocks, although there is no evidence to support that.

For the time being, if one wants Amberlinks, it seems they will have to be purchased as pullet starts. Other than as a "new" breed for you to spend your money on, they don't appear to offer significant advantages over the other sex-links already available.

 

[goosemama]

A word of warning - our Tractor Supply also has Amberlink chicks today for sale. When I came home to the computer to check them out they are said to be great brown egg layers and the chicks are a soft apricot color. These chicks are pale yellow with bits of white on their wings - does not fit the description for Amberlinkls.

I bought 2 Ancona's from Tractor Supply last year that turned out to be Leghorns!!! Lots of the time, the folks who work there have no basic knowledge of chickens, get the name wrong from the hatchery order etc. etc. I had a highschool kid wait on me last year and he didn't have a clue!!!

They had a bin this year of straight run Golden Comets (which are a sex link - pullets brownish colored and the males pale yellow as chicks). They had them for $l.99 each and then another bin of pullet Golden Comets for $2.89 each. Anyone who knew the Comets are sex linked could pick out the brown ones from the $l.99 bin and save themselves 90 cents per chick. (which i did). I noticed the pullet bin was gone quickly but got there in time to pick out some pullets from the straight run bin. To sell straight run sex links and then another bin of sex-linked pullets shows how little chicken knowledge they have. So beware - those Amberlinks may turn out to be Leghorns as mine did. Now I am getting nervous as I bought 12 Corniish Rocks there and they don't seem to be growing as fast as my order from Meyer Hatchery did last Fall. I may just have 12 leghorns on my hands!

 

[BC_Farms]

Has anyone else bought Amberlinks from TSC or figured out how to sex them? I was thinking of picking up a few.

 

[KBChicks]

Well isn't that a fine how-do-you-do...

I came home from the Tractor Supply with 6 Golden Comet pullets just a few hours ago. Or at least Charlie, who will never win the employee of the month award because he spent too much time on his new cell phone, told me. They are all pale yellow with white tipped wings.

They're only a week old so it's going to be a while before I know what I'm going to end up with, but from what I'm reading it looks like I have 6 males on my hands.
No wonder they were only .50 cents a piece........

 

[Sequin]

The boys wear bowties and the girls wear skirts. This is how my dad told me I could tell the boy and girl fish apart, so it must work for all baby animals, right? LOL - just kidding, I couldn't resist!!!! Congrats on the new little ones!!