Red sex-links.

[Pekin bantams]

I am planning on creating my own laying flock and I think sex-links are the best hens to raise. I have some questions about this. I live in Ireland and there are very few delewares, white rocks or RIWs here. What breeds should I cross with
a RIR roo to get sex-links that are equal in laying to golden comets and other famous sex-
links? And are sex-links prone to health diseases or do they stop laying at a young age?
Thanks in advance

 

[davemonkey]

Try this thread for some ideas on the breeds to select:

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

You could go for a "feathering" sex link trait, or the color.

 

[Pekin bantams]

Thanks davemonkey!!!

 

[Pekin bantams]

Anyone else???

 

[Fred's Hens]

I am planning on creating my own laying flock and I think sex-links are the best hens to raise. I have some questions about this. I live in Ireland and there are very few delewares, white rocks or RIWs here. What breeds should I cross with
a RIR roo to get sex-links that are equal in laying to golden comets and other famous sex-
links? And are sex-links prone to health diseases or do they stop laying at a young age?
Thanks in advance

Most of the commercial red sexlinks that have popular "Brand Names" are products of decades of poultry science and highly selective parent stock with the precise genetics. These crosses/hybrids are often 4 way crosses of grand parent stock from proprietary flocks owned by ISA, Hubbard, Hy-Line, etc, etc. These are custom made commercial birds and no, long life isn't essential to the egg industry as the flocks are replaced wholesale with frequency. The egg industry has no use for cockerels so the fact that the chicks can be sexed at hatch, by color, makes for quick, easy, effective and inexpensive process of sorting them. That's all. The sex link aspect doesn't make them great commercial layers, their top laying genetics do. In other words, you can have sexlinks that are great layers but you could also make sexlinks that are extremely poor layers as sexlinking has nothing to do with their laying ability, per se.

So, the fact that a gold male over a silver female produces sex linkable chicks is a simple matter. The parent stock of someone making sex linked chicks in their back yard will determine whether the offspring are good layers or long living, healthy birds, or even poor layers for that matter as the the fact that the chicks can be sexed at hatch says nothing about the characteristic of the birds otherwise. Hope that helps.

There are many, many ways to create chicks easy to sex by feather color.