sex link hens?

[mbshan08]

I just recently got 4 sex link hen peeps. Atleast I was told they are female. They are a light yellowish white color. And from all the research i've done it says the females should be a redish colored. I got them from a local lady, all hers peeps where black with the white spot on the head or the yellowish white color. She vent sexed them. The mother was sex link and the rooster was dominick. Should I be worried that I may have males?

 

[OldGuy43]

One of the advantages to Sex-Links is that they can be easily sexed as chicks. Hens are red, roosters are white.

https://secuservices.com/ideal/about-us.htm

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us!

It depends on how good she is at vent sexing. You cannot make sex links if one of the parents is a sex link. You cannot make sex links from a barred rooster, which that one is. And if he is the father of the yellow ones, he is not pure Dominique, he is some kind of cross. You could wind up with some really pretty chickens though and there is a pretty good chance they will lay really well if they are hens.

If you want to read up in it, the first post in this thread goes into detail on how to make red sex links, black sex links, and how to make feather-sexable chicks. But the bottom line is, with those parents, you cannot make sex links.

Tadkerson’s Sex Link Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261208

 

[mbshan08]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm new to this whole chicken thing. But you are saying that even though they are white that there is a chance if she sexed them right that they are females? I'm kind of disappointed though that she told me they would be sex links. As long as they are healthy FEMALES (lol) and will lay eggs I'm happy with them. I'm just not wanting any roosters.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I understand where you are coming from. There are a lot of misunderstandings about sex links. A hen being a sex link has nothing to do with how she lays because the genes that are used for the sex linkiing are not tied to egg laying. The main reason sex links have such a good reputation for good egg laying is that most people use chickens that lay well to make sex links. If the parents are good egg layers, the offspring will probably be good egg layers. Its nothing more complicated than that.

There is certainly a chance that those yellow chicks are female. It just depends on her vent sexing expertise. I think the hens you are talking about are red sex links Some genetics experts may correct me, but from what you describe, I don't see how the rooster can be a pure Dominique and have yellow chicks when crossed with a red sex link hen. There is nothing wrong with that as far as their egg laying ability. They just won't be sex links. A lot of us have mixed chickens and they lay great.

I can't give you any guarantees that you have females, but there is certainly a possibility. I wish you good luck!

 

[mbshan08]

Thanks for all your help. I do app. it. Have a blessed day.

 

[mbshan08]

Another question i had is since my peeps are white will they stay white or get diff color feathers when they get their other featehrs in. the lady told me they should be red.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Another question i had is since my peeps are white will they stay white or get diff color feathers when they get their other featehrs in. the lady told me they should be red.

I think that either the lady was inexperienced/unknowledgeable, or that she mislead you. I would certainly hope the later. <<---OOPS--meant to say THE FORMER

That she called them sex-linked, and thinks white chicks will feather in red are clues to me of my above statements. I would HOPE that she knows what she is doing on her vent sexing, but would not put a lot of faith in it. The good news is that unlike white birds from a true sex-link breeding, there is the possibility that they are female.
edited for spelling.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chicks with yellow down grow up to have a white base color. Chicks with a reddish color grow up to have a red base color. There are different shades of reddish down. Sometimes it can be a bit hard to determine if they are really yellow or maybe a bit red especially when they are mixed.



The two yellow chicks in this hatch both made roosters that looked like this. You can see no indication of the pattern feather colors in the down, but the base color is white.



I don't have photos, but those three reddish chicks made red hens with black tails.

Just for fun, this rooster had solid black down when it hatched. That's why I hesitate to say exactly what chicks will look like as adults based on down color. But the down is an indicator of the base feather color.



If the down of your chicks is yellow they will be base white. That does not mean they may not wind up with other colored feathers when they feather out. Two of these had yellow down when they hatched. The other had reddish down.

 

[mbshan08]

Thanks everyone for all your help. Although I'm very disappointed in the lady I got them from. I thought my going with some one local instead of my local tractor supply i would have better luck, but that doesnt seem to be the case. I can only learn from my mistakes.