Red sex-link with black feathers - 10 weeks old

[BroodCoop]

Hi, I have someone telling me that this is a picture of a rooster. What do you think?

 

[Pele]

I think you have a friend who really knows their chickens.

Saddle feathers: check
Early comb development: check
Big ol manly legs: check

 

[Kerrigirl]

I think you have a friend who really knows their chickens.

Saddle feathers: check
Early comb development: check
Big ol manly legs: check

I'm new to chickens, but it sure looks like a rooster to me.

 

[akcountrygrrl]

I have to agree with Pele. Where did you get it that they said it was a red sex link? It looks more like a production red to me.

 

[BroodCoop]

The breeder is a very knowledgeable guy and I understood that we had red sex-links and few black. Maybe a New Hampshire and Sussex cross but that is really stretching to try to remember. I am going to call him to see if he remembers this batch. Looking at other pictures on the web I still have hope.

These are big chickens. When they are running around the yard sometimes you have to do a double take to see who is full-grown and who is just a kid.

 

[akcountrygrrl]

Well, if he was breeding sex links to get sex links then they aren't sex links. A sex link breeding is meant to produce offspring that are sexable by color at hatching and only works on the first generation of chicks.

 

[akcountrygrrl]

Well, if he was breeding sex links to get sex links then they aren't sex links. A sex link breeding is meant to produce offspring that are sexable by color at hatching and only works on the first generation of chicks.

I meant to say that you breed two specific purebreds together based on color genetics to produce sex linked offspring that are sexable by color at hatching. Breeding a sexlink rooster to a sex link hen will not produce sex link chicks.

 

[BroodCoop]

I should have said New Hampshire crossed with Sussex. But maybe not, it was a long time ago and the guy was a wealth of information. Information overload, didn't all sink in.

I called the breeder, he doesn't remember that batch. So for now it is anybody's guess. Time will tell.

Links to a good thread on sex-links.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information

One thing I am sure of is that all of the chicks we brought home were red, except the black ones.

 

[Happy Chooks]

It's a cockerel, no doubt.

 

[BroodCoop]

Why? If we can't trust what the breeder told us then we have thirteen of questionable gender. Why isn't anyone asking what color they were at hatching? To my eye some of the others look more like cockerels than this one. These are bred to be seriously stout chickens.

This link shows pictures that look like our sex links.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKSexLink.html

Here is another thread that indicates this is not a straightforward affair:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/79062/help-sex-link-question

It looks like there are a hundred or so combinations possible to produce red sex links. If that is so I doubt anyone has experience with all of the combinations.