Hello there, I am a newbie to raising chickens. I have 12 Rhode island red hens and 1 Rhode Red Rooster. I have just hatched my first incubated eggs (6) and the chicks look like black sex link chicks (there are 6 more on the way within 24 hours). However, these chicks are cuties. I have no other roosters that are competing for my hens. The prior owner told me these chickens were pure bred reds. The chickens look like Rhode island reds and are great layers. Do you think the rooster was cross with a black sex link or would it be all my hens....? I would like to concentrate on one particular breed and maybe later expand into another .... later. BYC members ..What can you tell me about black sex link chickens ...good layers ... hardy chickens .... any info or photos? Thanks for your response. Just peeked at some of the Black sex link photos on here.... beautiful chickens ... colorful too! I am excited ... whew! Oh! New group about to hatch .....I can hear the babies chirping before they hatch ..... i can only see a small crack in the egg. Is this a sign the baby is having a problem? When do I intervene or do I? Most of the babies already hatched were quiet. Thanks, Coop-maid
Hello and welcome to BYC O.K. sex links. I'm a newbie to that concept so I'm not going to try and advice you LOL But there's a great section on breeds and genetics here that you can look at: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/14/breeds-genetics-showing What you can also do if you want to do some reading is type "sex link" into the search bar above (just below the brown header) and look through the results. Here's just one of the long, normative threads on the topic: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261208/sex-linked-information As for the hatching chicks. Congrats, first of all. I've got some due today/tomorrow as well, very exiting. It sometimes takes the chicks a long time to complete the hatch from pipping through the shell. some take up to 24 hours or more. So as long as the little one is cheeping and lively it's fine. If it doesn't make progress for hours and hours and shows signs of getting weaker, it may be time to help, but before you do that look at this excellent assisted hatch article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching Hopefully you won't need to help, but it's a handy article to have around when you need it!
Lol! I guess "sex link" Is not what I should be saying..... The lady @ feed store told me that these little chicks were black sex link chickens.... You can tell I'm a newbie LOL! well this is 1 good way to introduce myself. thanks for all the posts.... I love this backyard chicken bunch of people already...*smiling
