How would I go about breeding chicks that are all hens ( sexed )?

[cluckcluckluke]

How can I breed so that all of the chicks are pullets?
Or do I have to just cull the roosters of as day olds.

 

[appps]

If you found a way to breed just girls you would be onto a gold mine

Must admit though that I've often wondered if breeders follow male/female hatch rates from their roosters etc. I've wondered if just like humans have males that have all girls is that possible with roosters to have one that throws a high female rate.

 

[chicken pickin]

You cant breed for all hens, the typical rule of thumb is that half your hatch will be roosters half will be pullets. Most breeds you wont know sex until 6 weeks of age unless you breed a sexlinked type. Like for instance at my farm I breed many breeds but one of them is for a Black Sexlink. So that way I know my boys from the girls at hatch. Before hatching have a plan for all those extra roosters. I rehome mine for a small fee via craigslist if they cant be rehomed I grow them to about 16-18weeks old and then process them for my freezer.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Yes, this is what I thought.

O.k, what breeds do I need to make a Sex-link?

I have a WLH rooster over Ancona's, WLH's, Ara's, Sexlinks ( blk and red ), Marans, Langshans, RIR and Frizzle Bantams. Would any of these combinations work???

I have heard of Barred rocks and RIR's and White RIR's being used???

 

[tkodad]

Hey I'm in NH too! And I found its more complicated
To bother making sex linked chicks I just cull or
Grow to eat at least it gives me a chance to
See if any of the roosters are of good quality
Oh and I'm up North Conway area
And you have a cream legbar roo and no hen?(bummer)
I'm dying to find a pair that doesn't cost a million $ lol

 

[chicken pickin]

Yes, this is what I thought.

O.k, what breeds do I need to make a Sex-link?

I have a WLH rooster over Ancona's, WLH's, Ara's, Sexlinks ( blk and red ), Marans, Langshans, RIR and Frizzle Bantams. Would any of these combinations work???

I have heard of Barred rocks and RIR's and White RIR's being used???

To make a black sexlink you need a Barred hen crossed with a black rooster. I make mine out of Barred Rock hens and Black Copper Marans Rooster. The result is at hatch you can tell male vs female. Females hatch black and males hatch black with a white head spot. The head spot means the the chick will be barred. All black sexlink roosters will get the barring gene from the barred hen. The barring gene does not get passed to the female offspring. The females will grow up to be black with a copper collar. I am not too sure the exacts on making a red sexlink though. I know at hatch you can tell male from female by the color of the chicks down.

 

[chicken pickin]

Hey I'm in NH too! And I found its more complicated
To bother making sex linked chicks I just cull or
Grow to eat at least it gives me a chance to
See if any of the roosters are of good quality
Oh and I'm up North Conway area
And you have a cream legbar roo and no hen?(bummer)
I'm dying to find a pair that doesn't cost a million $ lol

HI!

Yes sometimes it is more complicated to make sexlinks because then you cant sell all chicks as straight run and move them out fast enough for the next hatch to go into the brooder. But The sexlink pullets sell quick and I end up raising the roosters for dinner. So I don't mind it. And yes I only have the 1 Cream Legbar rooster. I ordered eggs and had a bad hatch he hatch with one other rooster which didn't make it. And then the same person gave me for free 2 CL pullets they didn't make it either

I was bummed but survival of the fittest right!? Im gonna get him a pullet next spring. Their are a few good breeders in my area that I plan to contact. For now the roo is in a pen of hens to make some pretty cute EEs.

 

[Fred's Hens]

We've found that just propagating mixes and mutts still leaves half of them cockerels that must be fed and then eaten, as there isn't much of a market for such birds, "re-homed" for free or not.

When you intelligently and skillfully breed a high quality, bred to Standard, bird people tend to highly desire them and show up with money in hand.

Just our experience.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Yeah, I understand.

I was just curious is all really.
I don't have any barred breeds as of yet so this venture is probably not possible.

Does any one know the combination for Red and Amber and White Sex-Link?? ( Shouldn't you be able to make Sex-Links from any colour).

 

[chicken pickin]

This is copy and pasted from Wikipedia

Many common varieties are known as the black sex-link (also called Black Stars) and the red sex-link (also called Red Stars).[2] More specific variety names are common as well. Blacks are a cross between a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire rooster and a Barred Rock hen. Red sex-links are a cross between a Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire rooster and a White Rock (This variety pair is known as a Golden Comet), Silver Laced Wyandotte, Rhode Island White or Delaware hen. One example of a red linked breed is the Red Shaver. Europe has the Cream Legbar (an actual true-breeding pure breed) and ISA Brown sex-links, which also are found in Canada