I GOT A HEN!!!!(what is it??)

[mispollitos]

Can you believe it!!! My vivero(garden nursery) lady gave her to me! I'm sooo excited! Is she a rir? We're going to have het hens! so will the chicks be a mix of stripped and solid red like the hen??? I hope she'll brood! Isn't she pretty!!

 

[poultrycrazy]

Yes shes is very pretty. I think she is some kind of red sex-link or isa brown. They are breed for egg laying and will not go broody. If you want a LF broody hen i would probably go with a cochin or game hen of some sort. Hope this helps!

 

[mispollitos]

WHAT!!!! Don't tell me that!

my rooster isn't black sex link and I seriously doubt the hen is...next guess please!

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Red sex link or production red. Definitely not RIR, whatever she is...

 

[poultrycrazy]

From the pic your roo looks like a barred rock and im pretty sure your hen IS a red sex-link not black, and there are other breeds like red sex-link that looks just like her and they all are for egg laying and wont go broody. AND if you are keeping her with the rooster you will want to get more hens anyways since if you only have one he will most likely over mate her and she will loose alot of feathers on her back and the back of her head.

 

[noitulover]

red sex links are production breeds, and have had most of the "broodiness" bred out of them...

If you want a broody, get a cochin, silkie, Buff Orpington, or some other game hen.

 

[mispollitos]

oh boy, I thought production red was rir...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57847212@N02/5393297685/

We've already established what the rooster is...he's not a barred rock nor a black sex link but as RAREROO stated,

dark Het. Barred like your roo

The hen is however in question: RAREROO, please tell me this! I'm needing confirmation!

And the Reds to me actually look like Production Reds with a little bit of Gamefowl influence that may have been bred in. Which would probably make them even better layers and more likely to set and brood.

note to self:
for further reference: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=442128​

 

[noitulover]

production reds are what hatcheries sell in place of RIRs... they do not have the dark mahogany coloring of show birds, but a lighter red color.

What you have is an ISA brown or Red Sex Link... These are chicks bred so that the male chick is white and the female chick is red. They can be sexed at their hatch by color... This makes it easier to sort them. ISA and Red sex link chicks are not "production reds", but are similar in type. ISA and Red Sex Links tend to have white feathering as well as red, just like your hen.

When I said you had a "production" hen, I didn't mean a Production Red, I meant a hybrid breed of hen that is created for increased egg laying production. These newer hybrid breeds do not breed to standard, and are bred solely for increased production.

 

[poultrycrazy]

No they are a mixed breed i think. And yes cochins and orpingtons are GREAT broodys and so are pretty much any kind of game hen. And as i said before you will want to get at least a couple more hens so there wont be over manting going on.

 

[mispollitos]

poultrycrazy,
Here's my situation. I was going to mate them and then he is going to another home. I have hopes of raising chicks so I can have 5 laying hens. This has been quite an ordeal. I live in Mexico and it's been very hard finding hens or chicks. I know it's hard to believe but those that have been with me since the beginning...18 weeks ago know all about it. We just butchered 4 roos last week and I saved this one with hopes to breed him. Went on a wild chicken chase last night only to find a really gamey hen in the next pueblo with small eggs. Now, I've got a chance to have chicks and get my 4 laying hens this way and find out that this hen is red sex link...I must confess it DOES look like a red sex link. So...I'm going to have to figure out in a week if they've mated and how to incubate the eggs to hatch chicks...this isn't as easy as I was hoping for.*sigh* I suppose she won't care for the chicks either?