Rhode Island blue vs Black Sex link

[summerhatch]

So I was really excited to grow my flock with some new Rhode Island blues since I don’t have any. I bought 6 of them, and added 2 more black sex link chicks. The guy at the store was not the sharpest tool in the hardware store, and he proceeded to give me sex links from the blue cage, and blues from the second link cage...at least that’s how they were marked. I told him to check that and he laughingly agreed and switched them, but now I’m wondering if they were mislabeled....how can you tell the difference in the chicks? Beak color? Leg/feet color? I’m stumped. I’d rather know now so I can return them instead of waiting for them to grow up...

 

[FuzzyCritters]

The RIB chicks should be gray with red around the face. The BSL chicks should be solid black, possible with a small bit red around the face. Any black RIB chicks will look exactly like a BSL though, so no way to tell those apart.

 

[summerhatch]

Thank you. Is there much of a difference in the breeds anyway?

 

[FuzzyCritters]

Thank you. Is there much of a difference in the breeds anyway?

The Black Sex links might be slightly better layers, but other than that I don't think so.