The Bummer of hatching Sex Links

[donrae]

Today is hatch day for my first batch of sex links in a long, long time. I have three chicks so far, all with big ol white spots on their heads

.

I like the theory of hatching sex links, but the reality stinks right now. I guess I liked the denial part...."Oh, they're all female, of course!"... for a few weeks, anyway.

Now I've got to decide if I'm culling them now or raising them up for meat.

Sigh.

 

[lazy gardener]

That is the dilemma. There's something to be said for NOT raising them for meat. No rooster drama, no bachelor pen, just mild mannered pullets that you can easily integrate into the flock, sell the extras and wait for those beautiful little pullet eggs. Especially when the freezer is already full of chicken.

 

[donrae]

That's kind of where I am. I'm really needing to cut down the number of birds for the winter.

I did have a single Marans hatch, though, so I'm thinking to keep a few of the sex link males as companions for it. I'm not interested in brooding a single chick. Course, that just means I'll have to set more eggs to keep her company, right?

 

[lazy gardener]

I've cut my flock size quite a bit. Started with 1 roo, 24 hens this spring. Did some hatching, sold some hens. Recently culled 10 cockrels and 1 old hen. Currently at 17 female + Jack. (I think) good number to go into the winter with. Letting them out to free range for a few hours here and there. Hawks still on the prowl, but not as frequently as they were. Strange dog wandering the yard this morning. So, predator loss is never far from my mind.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Congratulations. Did you hatch your own sex link eggs or did you buy them on line?

 

[donrae]

I hatch my own. I put this handsome guy....




Over barred Rock and one cuckoo Marans hens. Traditional sex links are black with red leakage, but using this rooster gives me birds with either red or silver leakage, so I have something a little different to offer for sale. The black birds with silver leakage are pretty and folks seem to like them.

I have one little pullet hatched this morning

 

[lazy gardener]

That roo is a looker. good to know that a roo with a fair amount of white will throw sex links. I was under the impression that a roo with a fair amount of white on him would be iffy. Am I seeing some blue Ams in that flock? I have one, single egg to hatch from Chickopee that looks just like that. That pullet is a sketch. She's always under foot, always has a comment to make about what's going on. She's been dubbed "Nellie" by my hubby. As in "Nosey Nellie" I also call her Noisy Nellie.

 

[aart]

.

I like the theory of hatching sex links, but the reality stinks right now. I guess I liked the denial part...."Oh, they're all female, of course!"... for a few weeks, anyway.

LOL!!!

 

[donrae]

That roo is a looker. good to know that a roo with a fair amount of white will throw sex links. I was under the impression that a roo with a fair amount of white on him would be iffy. Am I seeing some blue Ams in that flock? I have one, single egg to hatch from Chickopee that looks just like that. That pullet is a sketch. She's always under foot, always has a comment to make about what's going on. She's been dubbed "Nellie" by my hubby. As in "Nosey Nellie" I also call her Noisy Nellie.

That's actually not white, it's silver. I think his color is silver duckwing. He's a multi-generation mixed breed.

White-white can mess with sex linkage. White kind of turns off black, so it can mess with things and cover up the true genetic color.

I don't have any pure Ameraucana. The lighter blue hen in the upper left is from my defunct "blue hens that lay blue eggs" sex link project. The blues are too hard to tell the head spot at hatch

The darker blue/grey hens in the pics with a reddish hue are from a splash Amerancuan rooster over Dark Cornish hens. They were a stealth hatch, but I've been thrilled with them. Good layers, great brooies, and not hard to look at

Nelly---I have Nervous Nelly

. A teeny tiny bantam Cochin hen who just doesn't settle down well. I had her to be a broody but she's so nervous and submissive she's never raised a brood. I keep saying I'm going to get rid of her, but she's I think 3 years old and still here......I just say she doesn't eat much, she's so small

 

[lazy gardener]

My Nellie doesn't have a nervous bone in her body. She is always nosing or beaking into everything.