sex linked questions

[AHappychick]

I would like to start a flock of dual purpose sex linked birds.

I was thinking of getting a black or red ranger type meatie and a large egg laying breed. I know there is tons of good info here but cant seem to find it now.

I would like to keep the females for laying and use the boys for meat. I very much like Brahmas but wonder if there is a better choice than that and what others are using that is produsing easy to sex chicks that fill in nicely for processing.

has anyone kept their rangers for breeding? I know the cornish x are hard to keep alive till maturity but was thinking if the feed was monitored and the birds free ranged a lot that I could keep the rangers alive long enough to produce offspring.

If size and egg laying and compleatly different colored chicks (females and males need to be very easy to sex not just slight color differences but compleatly different colors as day olds) is my goal what breeds would you suggest.

 

[Chickanmanfromarkansas]

All I know for sure you would need either a silver (White dominant) hen for red sex links or barred hen for black sex links and a red rooster to put over them.
Thought of trying this myself with the cornish x hens but I've never been able to get one to live long enough for egg production.

Mostly I;m giving you a boost up to see if anyone can answer your question.

 

[BekahBear]

I'm new to this. But if your looking for something that lays well and the boys can be used for meat why not use barred rock hens(they are heavier bodied and lay really well..at least mine do). And use a red broiler for the roo. They are a slower growing meat bird so if not overfed and if given ample excersize my guess is he should be able to breed without a problem. That cross will give you black sexlinks. Boys will have a white dot on their head and girls won't. My broody just hatched out some black sexlinks and they are very easy to tell apart. The girls should make pretty good layers and the boys should make good meat birds. ....hmmmm, I might have to try out that mix sometime lol.

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
Sexlinked Silver and Dominant White are two different things. The hen HAS to have Silver genes, not necessarily dominant white. RIWhite hens are dominant White and DO have Silver genes so they will produce sexlinks when mated with a pure gold gene rooster. However White Leghorn hens are Dominant White and generally DO NOT have silver genes and will not produce sexlinks.

Read my post on post 7 of this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=368752&p=1 for a brief explaination of how Red and Black Sexlinks can be produced and see the verisions of each that I bred myself.

Also read the sexlink sticky at the top of the Breeds Genetics page

And AHappychick also remember that sexlinkage in these cases only works in the first cross, so you would have to have a parent flock to produce the sexlinks, and keep some pullets for laying and eat the cockerels, but remember you cannot use those sexlinked offspring to breed back together and make more sexlinks, you have to go back to the original mating.

 

[Chickanmanfromarkansas]

silver (White dominant)

Sorry, my bad. I misunderstood when I read the sticky note on sexlinks. I understood that silver and white dominate were the same. Thanks for the correction.​

 

[RAREROO]

Quote:
Sorry, my bad. I misunderstood when I read the sticky note on sexlinks. I understood that silver and white dominate were the same. Thanks for the correction.

No problem, and no they are not the same, Silver, Dominant White, and Recessive White are the three main genes responsible for coloring birds white, it is possible for them to have more that one of the three, but generally it is one or the other.