Is this an ISA brown?

[CrazyChookz]

Hi! Need everyone's help here!

What breed is my chook?

Thanks, please reply

 

[Fierlin1182]

It's an Isa brown. (I call 'em red sex links but they have a variety of different names that I've heard.) She looks exactly like my hens!!

 

[donrae]

I think the Isas have white behind, this hen is darker. I think it's a generic red hen--production red.

 

[Fierlin1182]

o-o I was told before that a production red/sex link/Isa brown is all the same thing.
Well, I guess you learn something new every day

 

[donrae]

o-o I was told before that a production red/sex link/Isa brown is all the same thing.
Well, I guess you learn something new every day

Nope, production reds are based on rhode island reds and new hampshires and who knows what else the hatcheries throw in every so often.

Red sex links have a red daddy and a silver momma *that's the very simplified version* and the girls hatch out gold based and the boys hatch out silver based. They're called sex links cause the sex is linked to the color, so easy peasy to sex at hatch.

Sex links are a one time cross, they don't keep the same trait in the next generation.

 

[Fierlin1182]

OK. Wow. That's a near explanation. Thanks.
I always thought Isa brown was just another name for sex link.

My chickens are all sex links, similar to CrazyChookz's. I used to have a strangely bright-orange coloured one, she was always a tad different from the others.

 

[CrazyChookz]

Hello!
Need the same help for my other hen!

Sorry, couldn't get a better photo.

 

[Fierlin1182]

That's probably also a sex link, though it might have something else mixed in there. Someone please ciorrect me if I'm wrong. I have a sex link hen who has speckles (but they're white instead of black) in the same place.

 

[Red Barn Farms]

I have six red sex link pullets and they are basically a light reddish brown like those. Plus white at tip of tail feathers and black speckles too.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Sex Link simply means that two parent birds were mated in such a way to allow the sex to be determined, at hatch, based on feather color. Sex Link is not a breed, not strain, and not a single kind of bird. There are a dozen different parings that make the hatched chick sex linkable, or the sex easier to determine at hatch. Folks here say Red Sex Link or Black Sex Link commonly, as if these were a specific bird, but there are far too many "mixes" to over generalize.

There are many kinds and strains of Red or Gold sex links. The ISA Brown, a commercial bird, is patented, and has been bred for over 30 years, and is actually a 4 way cross. More information here: http://www.isapoultry.com/en/Products.aspx


There are dozens of commercial strains of layers which get sold into the retail, backyard market. Many times, the sellers (hatcheries) give them cute sounding names, as a marketing ploy. (Golden Buff, Cinnamon Queen, Red Star, etc) No one wants to say their chicken is a Hubbard #1209 or Hi-Sex #2034. LOL