Sex links

[kenzier093]

What do you prefer: A black sex link, a red sex link, cinnamon queen or a golden comet? Does anyone have any experience with these breeds? Which ones lays more eggs than another and how their personalities are? I only have the red sex links so I don't know what the others are like.

 

[lightchick]

I love my Black sex link because she is sooooo friendly! They are 21 weeks old and my Brown sex link is started laying at 19 almost 20 weeks old, but my Black sex link hasn't started yet.
My Brown sex link is sweet too though.

 

[Michael OShay]

I raised both Black and Red Sex Links for many years. Cinnamon Queens and Golden Comets are Red Sex Links. These are just two of many labels under which some hatcheries market their Red Sex Links. Other labels under which Red Sex Links are marketed include Red Star, Gold Star, Gold Sex Link, Brown Sex Link, Golden Buff, Bovans Brown, Hubbard Golden Comet, Isa Brown, Shaver Brown, Babcock Brown, Warrens, HyLines, Gold Lines, Lohmans, Lohmans Brown, Bovans Goldline, etc. No matter what label they are marketed under, they are all hybrids produced by crossing a red gene rooster with a silver gene hen. Not only can the resulting offspring by sexed by color at hatching, they also outlay either parent breed. It's one of the interesting quirks of hybridization.

Black Sex Links are produced by crossing a red gene rooster with a barred hen (usually a BR). They are sometimes marketed by some hatcheries as Black Stars or Bovans Nera. Like RSLs, they can be sexed by color at hatching and they are also egg laying machines, outlaying either parent breed.

Having raised both BSLs and RSLs over the years, I personally prefer the Black Sex Links. My Black Sex Links have been friendlier than my Red Sex Links (there are of course, always exceptions), and my Black Sex Links have laid slightly better in really cold winter weather that my Reds, and have generally given me a little longer period of peak lay before their lay rate began declining. However, I can certainly and enthusiastically recommend either sex link hybrid.

 

[kenzier093]

I raised both Black and Red Sex Links for many years. Cinnamon Queens and Golden Comets are Red Sex Links. These are just two of many labels under which some hatcheries market their Red Sex Links. Other labels under which Red Sex Links are marketed include Red Star, Gold Star, Gold Sex Link, Brown Sex Link, Golden Buff, Bovans Brown, Hubbard Golden Comet, Isa Brown, Shaver Brown, Babcock Brown, Warrens, HyLines, Gold Lines, Lohmans, Lohmans Brown, Bovans Goldline, etc. No matter what label they are marketed under, they are all hybrids produced by crossing a red gene rooster with a silver gene hen. Not only can the resulting offspring by sexed by color at hatching, they also outlay either parent breed. It's one of the interesting quirks of hybridization.

Black Sex Links are produced by crossing a red gene rooster with a barred hen (usually a BR). They are sometimes marketed by some hatcheries as Black Stars or Bovans Nera. Like RSLs, they can be sexed by color at hatching and they are also egg laying machines, outlaying either parent breed.

Having raised both BSLs and RSLs over the years, I personally prefer the Black Sex Links. My Black Sex Links have been friendlier than my Red Sex Links (there are of course, always exceptions), and my Black Sex Links have laid slightly better in really cold winter weather that my Reds, and have generally given me a little longer period of peak lay before their lay rate began declining. However, I can certainly and enthusiastically recommend either sex link hybrid.

I don't understand why just one hatchery website had red sex link, golden comet, an cinnamon queens. When I clicked on each one, the amount of eggs each one lays a year was different. On the Cinnamon queens page, it said they lay 250-320 eggs a year and on the red sex link page is said 250-280. I know they are all considered the same and just called different names, but this is just on one hatcheries website. Are they just trying to get more people to buy each one or what?

 

[lightchick]

Ohhhh. Well there are different mixes that are pretty much the same.
For example, Ideal Poultry has Gold, Red, and Brown sex links. I like I like Ideal because it tell you what mix they are.
See in this link?
http://www.idealpoultry.com/assortment.html
They are pretty much the same. All have RIR dads and white moms, but all the moms breeds are different.
Some other hatchery may the same mix as the Brown sex links, but call it something different like Cinnamon Queens or something.

 

[Michael OShay]

I don't understand why just one hatchery website had red sex link, golden comet, an cinnamon queens. When I clicked on each one, the amount of eggs each one lays a year was different. On the Cinnamon queens page, it said they lay 250-320 eggs a year and on the red sex link page is said 250-280. I know they are all considered the same and just called different names, but this is just on one hatcheries website. Are they just trying to get more people to buy each one or what?

Some hatcheries, like Cackle Hatchery for example, is notorious for this sort of thing. Cackle uses two different silver gene hens for the Red Sex Links and then market them under two different labels. Cackle uses RIW hens for one of their Red Sex Links and callsl the offspring Cinnamon Queens, and then uses Delaware hens for their Red Sex Links (which is actually a proper labeling in this case). Then they turn around and use a Production Red rooster for their Golden Comets (using the same RIW hens they used for their Cinnamon Queens); and the RIR roosters they use for their Cinnamon Queens are hatchery grade RIRs, which for practical purposes are virtually the same bird as their Production Reds. Ideal Poultry does the same thing with its Red Sex Links. Depending on which silver gene hens they use (WR, RIW, or Delaware), they market their Red Sex Links as Brown Sex Links, Gold Sex Links, and (properly) Red Sex Links, when they are all Red Sex Links (red gene rooster X silver gene hen). Which silver gene hen is used in these crosses really doesn't change the Red Sex Link lay rate as all Red Sex Links will typically outlay either parent breed. Cackle hatchery does the same thing with their red gene crosses, marketing them under the names, Production Red and Cherry Egger, when the two are essentially the same bird (red gene rooster X red gene hen). The egg numbers that these hatcheries quote don't mean much either. For example, Cackle Hatchery lists the lay rate of all of the following hens; Production Red and Cherry Egger (which are essentially the same bird), New Hampshire Red, Rhode Island Red, Rhode Island White, Black Sex Link, Red Sex Link, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Barred Rock, White Rock, Indian River, Austra White, Easter Egger, and Delaware at 200-280 eggs per year. Are you kidding me? Anyone who had raised these breeds for any length of time (including me) knows that New Hampshire Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, White Rocks, Easter Eggers, and Delawares (while all good layers), can't match the lay rate of the Rhode Islands, Production Reds, Black Australorps, and Austra Whites (which are all excellent layers), and these in turn, can't match the lay rate of Black Sex Links and Red Sex Links, both of which are egg laying machines that are able to regularly churn out over 300 eggs per year (Cackle actually sold itself a bit short on these two). These are examples of labeling games that many hatcheries play to manipulate customers for sales.

 

[kenzier093]

Some hatcheries, like Cackle Hatchery for example, is notorious for this sort of thing. Cackle uses two different silver gene hens for the Red Sex Links and then market them under two different labels. Cackle uses RIW hens for one of their Red Sex Links and callsl the offspring Cinnamon Queens, and then uses Delaware hens for their Red Sex Links (which is actually a proper labeling in this case). Then they turn around and use a Production Red rooster for their Golden Comets (using the same RIW hens they used for their Cinnamon Queens); and the RIR roosters they use for their Cinnamon Queens are hatchery grade RIRs, which for practical purposes are virtually the same bird as their Production Reds. Ideal Poultry does the same thing with its Red Sex Links. Depending on which silver gene hens they use (WR, RIW, or Delaware), they market their Red Sex Links as Brown Sex Links, Gold Sex Links, and (properly) Red Sex Links, when they are all Red Sex Links (red gene rooster X silver gene hen). Which silver gene hen is used in these crosses really doesn't change the Red Sex Link lay rate as all Red Sex Links will typically outlay either parent breed. Cackle hatchery does the same thing with their red gene crosses, marketing them under the names, Production Red and Cherry Egger, when the two are essentially the same bird (red gene rooster X red gene hen). The egg numbers that these hatcheries quote don't mean much either. For example, Cackle Hatchery lists the lay rate of all of the following hens; Production Red and Cherry Egger (which are essentially the same bird), New Hampshire Red, Rhode Island Red, Rhode Island White, Black Sex Link, Red Sex Link, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Barred Rock, White Rock, Indian River, Austra White, Easter Egger, and Delaware at 200-280 eggs per year. Are you kidding me? Anyone who had raised these breeds for any length of time (including me) knows that New Hampshire Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, White Rocks, Easter Eggers, and Delawares (while all good layers), can't match the lay rate of the Rhode Islands, Production Reds, Black Australorps, and Austra Whites (which are all excellent layers), and these in turn, can't match the lay rate of Black Sex Links and Red Sex Links, both of which are egg laying machines that are able to regularly churn out over 300 eggs per year (Cackle actually sold itself a bit short on these two). These are examples of labeling games that many hatcheries play to manipulate customers for sales.

Ok, it all makes sense now! Haha I'm obviously not very good at figuring out sex links, but that really helped! Yea, I have Easter Eggers and they definitely don't lay NEAR as much as the red sex links. Everyday my reds have eggs in the nest box and for some of my EE's it is sometimes everyday or every other. I do have one EE that lays just about everyday, but in the winter she stops when she molts, unlike the RSL. Cackle is the hatchery I was talking about too. That's where I got my EE's this year, but next I want to get Red and black sex links along with some EE's. I thought they were a good hatchery and LOVED their customer service too.

 

[Michael OShay]

Ok, it all makes sense now! Haha I'm obviously not very good at figuring out sex links, but that really helped! Yea, I have Easter Eggers and they definitely don't lay NEAR as much as the red sex links. Everyday my reds have eggs in the nest box and for some of my EE's it is sometimes everyday or every other. I do have one EE that lays just about everyday, but in the winter she stops when she molts, unlike the RSL. Cackle is the hatchery I was talking about too. That's where I got my EE's this year, but next I want to get Red and black sex links along with some EE's. I thought they were a good hatchery and LOVED their customer service too.

I've ordered from Cackle in the past and thought they might be the hatchery to which you were referring, although other hatcheries play these same kind of marketing games as well. I mentioned Ideal Poultry, which I've also ordered from, and all of the hatcheries that I've ordered from over the years play these marketing games with Easter Eggers (except, interestingly enough, Cackle) labeling them Ameraucanas (often misspelled Americana or Americauna) when that are actually hybrids and not true Ameraucanas or Araucanas. It's not ignorance on the part of these hatcheries; they know the difference. They have to as they get their EEs by crossing true Ameraucanas with other breeds to produce EEs that lay eggs in colors other than just blue. Don't misunderstand me; I'm not saying not to buy birds from these hatcheries. I've bought from them numerous times over the past 50 years and still buy from them as you can get some really good birds for normal use (layers or meat birds) from these hatcheries. You just have to know what you are getting when you order. Even Dunlap Hatchery (a smaller family owned hatchery in Idaho), which is my personal favorite, markets its EEs as Araucanas. It doesn't keep me from buying EEs from them, I just know when I buy that I'm getting EEs and not true Araucanas. I've also bought Red Sex Links from Dunlap. They market their RSLs under the label Golden Sex Link.