Ideal sex-links Which ones?

[Featherland]

Ideal has Brown Sex-links, Gold Sex-links, and Red Sex-links. Which one is the best layer of these 3?

I mean for consistent large nice eggs. I am looking for good egg production.

Currently I have Red Sex-links from Estes which I am pleased with. They have reddish brown and white feathers.

If you have adult pictures of any of these I would appreciate seeing them along with any comments good or bad.

 

[gordonburrito]

Well they're all excellent egg layers, so in my opinion its all about personality and appearance. I've had good luck with Black sex links in terms of personality....and I think they look the nicest. There's just something striking about a black chicken!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You can see my Golden Sex Links in the picture- they are brownish red with white. They lay a nice size darker brown egg (darker than the Buff Orpington eggs).

I bought mine from my farm store.

 

[magicpigeon]

Quote:
Which 2 breeds were crossed to make yours? They're very pretty

 

[hensonly]

I got red sex link pullets through my local farm store two and a half years ago. They came from Ideal. Out of the fifteen I ordered, two turned out to be roosters. Bear in mind that this is the whole point of sex links - to allow gender to be determined at hatching, with 100 per cent accuracy. So somebody wasn't paying attention at Ideal!

Also, out of fifteen birds, six died suddenly of unknown causes in the first year and a half. None were ill, no injury, and they don't free range, so they didn't get into any poison...

This is only one experience with birds from Ideal. I'm sure there are many people who are happy with their birds from Ideal, but I would not order from there again. Mostly because of
the mistake in sending me two roos. And one was a completely different color from the rest, right from the start - no reason for the mistake.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

As far as health and longevity of laying and life, I have had better luck with my black sex links. But my personal eye candy appeal is for the red sex links.
I have gotten them from several different hatcheries and I still have some BSL that are almost 3 years old from Meyer and they are still laying. Every red sex link I have gotten from Ideal has died after a year old and I have not gotten any other color from them. My RSL from Welp will be 2 next spring and have slowed down in laying but I think that is from molting.

My BSL have been a bit bossy with my other birds but my RSL seem to get along well.

 

[luvanimals2]

Quote:
I purchased 8 Sex Links - 2 of each type from Ideal about 6 weeks ago. The other 8 were mixed Heavy Breeds and sexed because I cannot have roos where I live. My friend asked me what I would do if I got a roo and I said I only have to worry about the Heavy Breeds and I will be okay since 8 are SEX LINKS. As they grew, I could tell one of the sex links was a roo. A very mean roo to his roommates but he LOVES me and will let me pet him and he will sit on my lap. It is going to be a heartbreak for me to get rid of him. I was so UPSET that I called Ideal and complained and they told me that some as day olds are similar in color and that is the reason for the mix up. Then shouldnt they do a secondary round of sexing in that case? Ugh............

Nancy

 

[ghulst]

I beleive that Ideal makes their own sexlinks. If I were you I would ISA Browns. They are a red sexlink commersal bred bird that are egg laying machines with personality. Only one hatchery that I am aware of sells them and that is www.townlinehatchery.com they are in Zeeland . Michigan. They have Isa browns avaible Feb-Nov.

 

[jsmonasmith]

Quote:
I too would vote against Ideal. Not trying to be a butt, but my RIR, BR, and EE's are pretty pathetic that I received from my feed store that gets them from Ideal. at 22 weeks old they only weigh 4 lbs and are no where near ready to start laying. There's a lot of variation in size and coloring on all of my breeds also. Some are barely 3 lbs where the biggest is almost 5 lbs. The barring on the BR's is inconsistent as well, some are almost pure black. I have learned my lesson and will only be getting my birds from breeders from now on, with the exception of Cornish X's if I ever buy any. Sorry Ideal, don't mean to point fingers, but the quality is just not there. The birds might be fine for someone who just wants chickens and doesn't care about quality, but not me.

 

[gordonburrito]

I'm pretty sure Scrappy (the chicken in the picture) is a standard Barred Rock X Rhode Island Red black sex link. You also might want to check out Cackle hatchery since you are from Missouri. I have had good luck with them and I've seen their black sex links chicks first hand and they looked very nice.