pullet or cockerel by coloring???

amcconnell

Crowing
16 Years
Sep 4, 2008
123
2
266
I crossed a black orpington roo with a buff orpington hen and got a yellowish white chick with 2 black spots on its back. I'm thinking that roos pass their coloring onto pullets and hens pass their coloring onto cockerels. So would this be a cockerel??????
 
i am not an expert on sex linking, but i think that a black over a buff does not sex link. i do know that a red over a white does, and a barred over a red. however with hatchery chicks it doesnt always work due to hatcheries mixing in another breed for hybrid vigor.
lowell stromberg wrote a book on sexing chicks that describes some of the sex link characteristics, ive read it, ive practiced and im still not always getting it right.
the best method i have found that works for me, look at the size of their feet. pullets will usually have smaller toes. on a hatch of 100 birds i pick 40 with the smallest toes, and 40 with biggest toes, and scratch my head on the other 20. on the 40 i choose as pullets i normally dont have more than 2 cockerels.
 
Strictly speaking about sex linking color, those resulting chicks will not be sex linked. Its a male red /gold over a female silver generally. There is a nifty chart somewhere on this site that gives every possible equation for color sex linking. I will try to find it and post it here for you.

You might get some interesting color combinations but not sex linking sorry.
 
I really wasn't sure about sex linking by their coloring. Thanks for the replies!
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everyone has their own preferences, I personally use medium pine flakes. a bale goes a long way and seems to absorb more than chopped straw. one thing to watch with sawdust however, if its to fine of a dust the chicks may think its food.
on larger birds I still use the pine flakes in my breeder cages. you can compost this fairly easily for your garden. but remember, its pretty nitrogen rich.
 

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