roosters

[CB3fish]

Thank you, and this chicken is very different from the other 4. The 4 have lots in common and are Rhode Island reds but different from this one chicken who also is Rhode Island red. When I grew up on a farm, we had a huge Rhode Island Red rooster. He was a monster and would chase people. This one could really be big.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Wow, NO it is not one of them. It is from a hatching in August this year. But will you explain more about what you wrote. I was given those chickens and identified them as Rhode Island reds, which I understand is a cross bred chicken. What does using SEX mean in this situation?

Rhode Island Reds are not a cross bred - it is actually a recognized pure breed of chicken. The birds in your photo are cross/mixed bred chickens, and not Rhode Island Reds. As noted above, they are "Red Sex Links" which means they are the result of a cross between a red based breed ofrooster and silver based breed of hens resulting in chicks that hatch with males being one color and females another (their color is "sex linked") - this makes them easily sexed and desired for that trait as there are no "oops" males in your all pullet order as there can be with pure breed birds who must be sexed by examining their internal sex structures.

 

[CB3fish]

If it is a rooster, I will try to get that collar which reports are, it controls crowing. I have a friend who takes my chickens for the summer, he has about 15 hens and no rooster. He has a farm, my chickens must love it there, are free to roam the farm. Where he lives, he can have a rooster and will take mine, if it is a rooster. I am hoping I can keep him, if he can be quiet. Yes that sounds awful.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

As The Ole Grey Mare said, sex links are mixed from two breeds resulting in male and female of two different colors at hatch. The color difference is genetically linked by sex hence the name Sex Link. Those birds in your avatar are Red Sex Links and hatcheries have a plethora of names depending on breeds used and hatchery trade mark name. Red Star, Amber Links, ISA Brown, Cinnamon Queen....The males are white and females red, resulted from red male over silver based female.

Load up a photo of your suspected cockerel. A body profile shot and a neck with head photo would be nice. Normally pullets get wattles around 10 weeks. Cockerels get wattles before that and as early as 5 weeks can start showing red in comb. Pullets combs, with few breed exceptions, wont show any red at all until point of lay- around 18 weeks or later they start to show red.

 

[CB3fish]

Someone has claimed that the Rhode Island Red is not a mixed breed chicken! Here is what I have read:
Developed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, early flocks often had both single and rose combed individuals. It was from the Malay that the Rhode Island Red got its deep color, strong constitution, and relatively hard feathers.[5]
The Rhode Island Red were originally bred in Adamsville, a village which is part of Little Compton, Rhode Island. One of the foundation sires of the breed was a black-breasted red Malay cock which was imported from England.
The Malay is a breed of game chicken. It is the tallest breed of chicken, and may stand over 90 cm high.[5] The Malay is bred principally in Europe,[3] and in Australia and the United States.[6] It was derived, partly in Devon and Cornwall in south-west England,[7] from birds imported from Indian subcontinent[5] or South-east Asia in the first decades of the nineteenth century, when large birds of this type were widespread in northern India, in Indonesia and in the Malay Peninsula.[8] RIRs were also developed from the black-red Java, where is most likely got its rose comb.
The origin of the breed dates back to a fowl bred in Rhode Island in the mid 1800s; hence the name of the breed. According to most accounts, the breed was developed by crossing Red Malay Game, Leghorn and Asiatic stock. There are two varieties of the breed, single comb and rose comb and to this day there is debate over which was the original varie.
It would seem that the RIR is a mixed breed at its inception, but after years breeds true, i.e. no throw backs to prior characteristic . But at the beginning, it appears the chicken was very mixed in male parentage from the Malay as well as the female side.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

@CB3fish the origin goes to mixed breeding, ues, but the resulting breed is not a mixed breed bird as the actual breed is now a separate breed....meaning it has recognized standards and breeds true (ie rixri=ri, not malayx?=ri).

 

[Bridebeliever]

All of our current chicken breeds are developed using other chickens to come up with the new breed...LOL...just like all the different dog breeds in the world. Most of them have been their current recognized breed for 150 years or more.

 

[drumstick diva]

and that's the truth !

 

[CB3fish]

Will do ASAP Thanks

 

[CB3fish]

Here is a picture of the chicken being held so the head can clearly be seen. What do you think. I looked for spurs not knowing when they appear. The sound from this bird is still baby talk, the voice has not changed. I begin to be suspicious when it grew so big and I ordered 5 hens! Only lately has it appeared one male may have slipped through!