What am I???

[suliah]

I agree that he is probably a black sex link rooster. I just wanted to answer your question about his odd comb. It looks to me like he had a normal single comb and then lost the little points on it to frostbite during his time on his own.

... I guess it's possible, but there's no black around the edges, which I would expect if frostbite was involved.

I have a couple hatchery barred rock pullets without the points on their combs. They look kind of like the fin on a sailfish.

YES-- This exactly

You're welcome; and you're right about the yellow legs. My reason for thinking he may be a Black Sex Link is that when it look at him (granted the lighting is rather dark in the pic), he appears to have traces of rust, copper, or reddish color in his barred feathering, particularly in the wing, saddle, and neck area. Am I seeing that correctly?

Yes, there's a tan/rust/copper color coming through his feathers. At first it looked yellow, now it looks more tan/brown, maybe a little rust. But it's not in all the feathers, it really just makes him look like he's dirty!

 

[Michael OShay]

Yes, there's a tan/rust/copper color coming through his feathers. At first it looked yellow, now it looks more tan/brown, maybe a little rust. But it's not in all the feathers, it really just makes him look like he's dirty!

I thought I was seeing that correctly. That rust/copper color on a Barred Cockerel is indicative of a Black Sex Link rooster. It is a product of the red gene rooster that is crossed with a barred hen to produce Black Sex Links.

 

[suliah]

I thought I was seeing that correctly. That rust/copper color on a Barred Cockerel is indicative of a Black Sex Link rooster. It is a product of the red gene rooster that is crossed with a barred hen to produce Black Sex Links.

Sooo... If I breed him basically he's going to provide a gene that says his hens should lay lots of big brown eggs, end of story, right?

 

[junebuggena]

Yep.

 

[Michael OShay]

Sooo... If I breed him basically he's going to provide a gene that says his hens should lay lots of big brown eggs, end of story, right?

He will definitely provide a brown egg gene to his offspring. They will likely be good layers, although not the egg laying machines that first generation Sex Links are. Because Sex Links are hybrids, they will not breed true and even breeding two Black Sex Links together will not produce a Black Sex Link. The same goes with Red Sex Links; breeding two of them together will not produce Red Sex Link offspring.