Red sex link breed question

[blucoondawg]

I have been looking at different breeds and their characteristics, I find that most hatcheries have different names for the hybrid breeds, I have always heard Golden Comet, but I see some have a different name then say also known as golden comet,red sex link, cinnamon queen etc. so apparently these different breeds are all the same cross. But then I look at Cackle's birds and they offer the comet, the cinnamon queen and red sex link all as separate breeds. The sex link cross is told as RIR roo and Delaware hen, the other 2 don't give the cross. This is all very confusing, they also say the sex link has slightly less egg laying ability than the comet or the queen yet still very high. Apparently these are different crosses? RIR roo mixed with something besides the delaware hen?

 

[Fred's Hens]

None of them are "breeds". They are all mixes, mutts, hybrids, blends, whatever. Since it isn't a breed, but a mix, the hatcheries can call them anything they wish to call them. Since the parent stock aren't often true bred, or standard bred birds themselves, the hatcheries sometime say it is THIS over THAT, or many times, make no statement about the parentage of the birds at all.

Since hatcheries only have production type birds they call Rhode Island Red and production type birds they call Rhode Island White (but aren't) and production strains of Delaware that are far from type, production strains of white Leghorns and crosses of commercial Leghorn, the reality is that whatever the hatchery wants to say, they can say. There's no breed police or breed inspector or poultry judge team going around handing out tickets. LOL

Commonly, these various mixes or sex links are prolific layers and quite human friendly. Hatcheries sell tons of them, and overall, people are pleased with them. Whatever they are called. Hope that helps.

 

[blucoondawg]

Not really, I understand about them being crosses, what I am not understanding is what is the difference between the 3 "different hybrid" strains they sell at Cackle, many sources say a red sex link is a red sex link is a red sex link but Cackle has 3 separate "red sexlinks" with different names. I guess what I am asking is if the Red Sex Link they sell is RIRxDelaware then what are the other 2 hybrids they have? For example what x with what makes a Golden Comet or a Cinammon Queen as they call them. Supposedly the Comet and Cinnamon Queen are likely to be more prolific layers. Am I to assume they are all RIR rooster crossed with different hen, say a RIW hen or a White Rock rather than a Delaware, then they make up different names for each of the different crosses?

I am not looking to buy these I am looking at what's out there, I will likely build my flock of purebred birds and a few banties for mothers then maybe hatch out some of my own hybrid type mix birds

Also how do you know which crosses are going to produce a sex link bird and which are just going to be a mixed color/sex batch?

 

[catdaddyfro]

This is often a confusing subject for a lot of folks.

Golden Comets, Red Stars,Gold sex-links many other numerous names these are usually the hybrids that are buff/gold/red with white in the hackles tail and some flight feathers. These are the results of crossing a red/gold male (Production red usually) over a dominant white hen usually some sort of hybridized egg production layer in itself. The resulting cross is that the dominant white from hen cancels out all the black areas on the body, and the red is/maybe diluted to a lighter shade of red/gold/buff. Dominant white covers/masks black easily but has a hard time covering red/gold thus just the dilution factor..Otherwise due to sex linking genes she would look almost like the male parent.



Now on the Red sexlinks these are results of a red male(gold gene) over a white/columbian/Delaware pattern (silver gene) female ie.( Columbian patterns(Rocks,Lt Sussex) or Delaware, these will result in a hybrid layer that looks like a copy of the father just a diluted version of red and will still have the black in the extremities (neck hackles, wing, and tail) maybe some dilution here too but there will be evidence of this blacking. This is a gold X silver cross no dominant white to disrupt the black just mostly the columbian gene at work here diluting the red and still showing the black. Columbian dilutes body plumage and moves/leaves black to the outer most feathers.

Not the best pic. but you can see the tail is black, no white anywhere

Jeff

 

[Fred's Hens]

First of all, the poultry genetics corporations like HyLine, ISA, Warren, Hubbard, Tetra, etc, make dozens of "models" of red sex links for the commercial brown egg industry. They sell millions, perhaps billions of these each year for world wide consumption. Each of these companies make a few different "versions" of the red sex link. Again, the male used is has gold genes and the female used has silver/white genes. This is how the chicks are sexed at hatched. This cross makes the male chicks white and the female chicks buff colored. This is a HUGE cost savings of being able to sort these chicks for an industry that only needs hens. The cockerels are largely just destroyed and the protein used in cat food, plant food, etc.

The smaller retail hatcheries such as Cackle, etc can either make their own sexlinks or buy the parent stock from the large corporations. These smaller, Cackle type, retail hatcheries produce thousands of chicks for direct sales, not millions of chicks such as a Hyline commercial hatchery would.

These smaller hatcheries can use a few different red roosters. As long as it has the gold gene. Such as a hatchery RIR, a hatchery New Hampshire or a hatchery production red bird of some kind. For the silver/white female side they can use whatever they have. So called RIW, Del, silver Leghorn, silver gene Rocks, etc. Just remember that none of the parents are standard bred examples of their "breed" and wouldn't ever qualify to enter a poultry show.

Few of the hatcheries are going to disclose the true, pedigree of the parent stock anyhow. It is easy enough for them to make several different models of these red sex links and sell them under whatever name they wish. Kind of a Labra-Cocker-Peka-Doodle. If you wish to know with more precision, and base a purchasing decision based on more precise information, that quest is ill fated, I'm sorry to say. Hatcheries often don't say and if they do say for marketing purposes, the information given is highly suspect and unverifiable.

Go by previous customer feedback. That's about all one can do. Since backyard chicken keepers really want females, these birds are popular. They are sexed. A huge plus for folk's who don't want or can't have roosters. They are people friendly, as a rule and lay up a storm. Very popular.

Hatcheries rarely, if ever, have ANY birds that a pure bred, or bred to standard. Their niche is volume, cheap, available and healthy. That's it. It you want standard bred poultry, you have get those from a breeder.