my new and 1st sex link chicks:)

[drdoolittle]

I never really cared for sexlinks myself----until I got some this year. I bought 5 red 8 mos. sexlinks from a friend, and liked them so much that I went to TSC and bought 5 black sexlink pullets. There's just something about their personalities that compliments the personalities of the other chickens I have.

Here's a pic. of one of my ladies.

 

[cpwhip]

awe sorry the term "barnyard mutts" makes you sad. it wasn't my intention.
I'm still learning and was relaying what I was told
in time I will learn to sort it all out
I like the Brahmas I think they are very handsome chickens.

 

[cpwhip]

great pic Drdoo

 

[Dowie]

My THREE YEAR OLD sex link, Megatron, is still laying an egg nearly every second day. I put this down to her totally free-ranging - I think the diet she gathers for herself has kept her laying much longer than sex links are reputed to. Her sisters went to a friend's place, and they stopped laying over 9 months ago (they are confined to a pen).

Remember, most data about sex links comes from the battery farms, where the hens can't move at all. No wonder they stop laying well after a year! I love my red hens, they are so funny - if you let them out to garden with you, they will follow you and forage voraciously wherever you dig.

I would advise getting a tractor, too, so they can dig for different bugs. A run is great, but after a while they destroy everything (it's like a nuke was set off, seriously), and have absolutely no goody yum yums to forage for.

Good luck! They are super cute.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Quote:
Most hens lay pretty well for two to three years - a high producing hen can lay more than thirty times her body weight in eggs over a three year laying span. I don't think the heritage breeds actually lay longer than the other breeds; it seems to me that many heritage breeds have poor initial performance, so the decline isn't as obvious. Assuming a hen declines by 20% after the first year, if she started at 250 eggs and then falls to 200 eggs per year it is very noticeable - but if she started with 150 eggs per year and declines to 120 eggs, the decline isn't as obvious unless you keep an egg diary.

We have Black Stars and Barred Rocks. The Black Stars are pets that produce a lot of eggs; the Barred Rocks are pets that maybe don't produce as many eggs although they really like being held. The Black Stars are very good at converting feed into eggs efficiently - but one of the production white Leghorn strains would be far more efficient. We went with Black Stars because they tend to be among the friendliest of the hybrids that are considered to be of commercial, or near commercial, efficiency.

This is an extension publication by J. C. Hernes of the Oregon State University extension service:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/pnw/pnw565.pdf

 

[cpwhip]

great info Thanks! what about this question?"I was told that after a chicken is 2 years old they no longer are good to eat is that true?"
if its true then what do I do with them?

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Quote:
Heritage breeds are breeds that are not efficient enough for commercial use. Some of them once were good commercially; but were destroyed by being bred for show points. For example, the original Cochin had far less feathering than the modern bird; since both eggs and feathers require protein and other nutrients, a bird with more and heavier feathering is likely to not lay as well and to eat more than a bird with less extreme feathering. There are many myths circulating about heritage breeds and hybrids alike - and most of them are simply not true. Some people carry over their feelings about caged layer operations into also disliking the poor hybrid hens who are the victims in the caged operation, not the perpetrator. Interestingly enough, the big genetics operations like ISA-Hendrix are now focusing on increasing the laying life of hens; ironically, this is where the great chicken breeder of the early 20th C., Professor James Dryden, started out in the early 20th C. He produced the first hen known to have laid 300 eggs in one year - proved by trap nesting - and the first hen to lay more than 1,000 eggs in her laying career.

Some of the sex links are the result of first generation crosses of heritage breeds. The Black Sex link is the result of a red cock - usually a New Hampshire or Rhode Island Red - crossed on a Barred Plymouth Rock hen.

Sex links will outlay heritage breeds and can lay just as long. Most of them are very good at foraging and are used extensively in free range, organic, and pastured egg layer operations because the heritage breeds do not generate sufficient income for the amount of labor and material that they consume. Robert Plamondon, at www.plamondon.com has some very good advice on choosing chickens for pastured and free range operations; he makes a good living at it and is sending his children to college on the income he and his wife earn from poultry. Most of the "experts" out there haven't been in business long enough to go broke; many earn most of their living from town jobs.

BIAS ALERT: temperament is very important to me

I keep both Black Stars and Barred Plymouth Rocks. I keep hybrids because they are efficient and very good producers; I keep Black Star hybrids because they generally have a very good temperament. I keep Barred Plymouth Rocks, a heritage chicken, because they are pets and if one sources from a hatchery like Decorah, one can find reasonably productive and comparatively efficient strains. I like having chickens that are friendly and not aggressive; as a child I kept Leghorns which are highly productive, cannibalistic, and can be aggressive to humans and other animals as well as to their fellow chickens. Although the commercial Leghorn strains are the most efficient, I don't enjoy being around them so I don't have them.

Chickens will naturally go into a molt on their own, usually in winter when the days are short; some commercial operations force a molt because after molting production tends to go up again. Chickens may also molt if stressed - which is why letting dogs, cats, and children harass the birds is not good for them - not only can it cause them to stop laying for a while, but if they go into a molt during the longer days of the year the molt may not complete and then production stays down.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Quote:
At that age they become what used to be known as a "stewing hen" for use in chicken soup or stew.

 

[cpwhip]

oh thats what I thought. thanks, sometimes its hard to sort the fact from fiction.

 

[Pele]

Quote:
Heritage breeds are breeds that are not efficient enough for commercial use. Some of them once were good commercially; but were destroyed by being bred for show points. For example, the original Cochin had far less feathering than the modern bird; since both eggs and feathers require protein and other nutrients, a bird with more and heavier feathering is likely to not lay as well and to eat more than a bird with less extreme feathering. There are many myths circulating about heritage breeds and hybrids alike - and most of them are simply not true. Some people carry over their feelings about caged layer operations into also disliking the poor hybrid hens who are the victims in the caged operation, not the perpetrator. Interestingly enough, the big genetics operations like ISA-Hendrix are now focusing on increasing the laying life of hens; ironically, this is where the great chicken breeder of the early 20th C., Professor James Dryden, started out in the early 20th C. He produced the first hen known to have laid 300 eggs in one year - proved by trap nesting - and the first hen to lay more than 1,000 eggs in her laying career.

Some of the sex links are the result of first generation crosses of heritage breeds. The Black Sex link is the result of a red cock - usually a New Hampshire or Rhode Island Red - crossed on a Barred Plymouth Rock hen.

Sex links will outlay heritage breeds and can lay just as long. Most of them are very good at foraging and are used extensively in free range, organic, and pastured egg layer operations because the heritage breeds do not generate sufficient income for the amount of labor and material that they consume. Robert Plamondon, at www.plamondon.com has some very good advice on choosing chickens for pastured and free range operations; he makes a good living at it and is sending his children to college on the income he and his wife earn from poultry. Most of the "experts" out there haven't been in business long enough to go broke; many earn most of their living from town jobs.

BIAS ALERT: temperament is very important to me

I keep both Black Stars and Barred Plymouth Rocks. I keep hybrids because they are efficient and very good producers; I keep Black Star hybrids because they generally have a very good temperament. I keep Barred Plymouth Rocks, a heritage chicken, because they are pets and if one sources from a hatchery like Decorah, one can find reasonably productive and comparatively efficient strains. I like having chickens that are friendly and not aggressive; as a child I kept Leghorns which are highly productive, cannibalistic, and can be aggressive to humans and other animals as well as to their fellow chickens. Although the commercial Leghorn strains are the most efficient, I don't enjoy being around them so I don't have them.

Chickens will naturally go into a molt on their own, usually in winter when the days are short; some commercial operations force a molt because after molting production tends to go up again. Chickens may also molt if stressed - which is why letting dogs, cats, and children harass the birds is not good for them - not only can it cause them to stop laying for a while, but if they go into a molt during the longer days of the year the molt may not complete and then production stays down.

Awesome post with good and accurate info! Thanks for posting!