What is the difference ...

[flyladyrocks]

I have a Breed Question for you experts! - what is the difference between a Production Red and a Red Sexlink?

Eventually I will get some picks taken and ask "What are we?" but I am so worn out from coop making that I am very unmotivated to do that right now!

 

[debid]

Production red is a mix of red plumage breeds, selection made for production rather than any breed standard. Red sexlink is a crossing of red and white plumage to make chicks sexable by down color.

 

[Aragon]

I am by no means an expert, but I believe that a Sex-link is not considered a breed at all. It is a cross, meaning that by breeding two Sex-links you will not get an offspring that resembles it's parents. A Production Red may or may not breed true depending on what makes up it's background.

Rhode Island Red is a breed, Production Red is a hybrid of the RIR, and a Sex-link is a cross breed.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

The sex link is also refereed to as the golden buff, red star, cinnamon queen and golden comet.

 

[donrae]

Production red is a mix of red plumage breeds, selection made for production rather than any breed standard. Red sexlink is a crossing of red and white plumage to make chicks sexable by down color.

x2

Production red is a term used for generic red hatchery birds. They're likely based on Rhode Island and/or New Hampshire blood way back, but have been bred with such an eye to egg production they don't really resemble either of those breeds anymore. They're usually solid red or red with black tips. They breed true, meaning a production red rooster over a production red hen gives a chick that pretty much resembles the parents each time.

A red sex link is a one time cross between a gold/red rooster over a silver hen (there's more to it, that's the simple version). This cross makes silver roosters and gold/red/brown hens. Then hens are usually easy to spot as they're a brownish/gold with white tips and tail. Red sex links don't breed true, when you breed a sex link to a sex link you lose the linkage and just get random colored chicks.

As far as a back yard bird, there's not much difference, really. Sex links guarantee you get a female, that's about it. Some strains of sex links lay massive amounts of eggs, most just lay as well as the parent breeds used to make them. With either bird, you get a basically reddish colored bird that lays lots of nice brown eggs that does fairly well in a backyard environment.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Production red is a mix of red plumage breeds, selection made for production rather than any breed standard. Red sexlink is a crossing of red and white plumage to make chicks sexable by down color.

debid nailed it - as per usual

 

[flyladyrocks]

Thanks all - mine are from Meyer, and I just looked and don't even see "production Red" anywhere on their site so I think mine are sex-links. Which is what I have thought all along but then someone said "or it could be a production red" and I got confused!

Is their any difference in sex-links? What I mean is all those different names for them, are they just different names for the same exact thing thing or is a Golden Comet a different cross than a Cinnamon Queen for example.

Not that any of this really matters that much, this mama just is really curious about her babies! I love them all no matter what they are. I gotta get those pictures taken and uploaded ....

And now this mama needs to go pick up the cinder blocks I just found for free on Craigslist. Like that Idea a whole lot better than wood pallets that can rot away under the coop.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Thanks all - mine are from Meyer, and I just looked and don't even see "production Red" anywhere on their site so I think mine are sex-links. Which is what I have thought all along but then someone said "or it could be a production red" and I got confused!

Is their any difference in sex-links? What I mean is all those different names for them, are they just different names for the same exact thing thing or is a Golden Comet a different cross than a Cinnamon Queen for example.

Not that any of this really matters that much, this mama just is really curious about her babies! I love them all no matter what they are. I gotta get those pictures taken and uploaded ....

And now this mama needs to go pick up the cinder blocks I just found for free on Craigslist. Like that Idea a whole lot better than wood pallets that can rot away under the coop.

That is the million dollar question - the answer to which is yes and no.

Certain hatcheries have given their sex-linked hybrids their own names and use their own "closely guarded" selection of breeds for the parent stock to produce their particular sex-linked chicks. So, in that way, yes there can be differences. From there, of course the individual breeds used *can* make a difference in the nuances of each breed. And, since you are talking about mixed breed birds, even chicks from the same parent birds, hatched in the same clutch can have differences (ie in appearance) because how the "mix" is expressed in each bird can have variances.

However, the "no" is in that there is no real difference if you are looking purely at the definition of the sex-linked chick being one that is able to be sexed by visual exam of color at hatch. Also, many of the names that originated from the hatcheries to describe *their* sex-linked chicks have since been hi-jacked, for lack of a better word, by the general public and are frequently used to describe any RSL/BSL rather than just those originating from the hatchery who coined that particular term.

At the end of the day, imo, a SL is a SL - bred for ease of gender differentiation and to be super-star layers - but a SL by any other name sells better --- after all, "Golden Comet" sounds much more intriguing than "red sex-link".

 

[Fred's Hens]

That is the million dollar question - the answer to which is yes and no.

Certain hatcheries have given their sex-linked hybrids their own names and use their own "closely guarded" selection of breeds for the parent stock to produce their particular sex-linked chicks. So, in that way, yes there can be differences. From there, of course the individual breeds used *can* make a difference in the nuances of each breed. And, since you are talking about mixed breed birds, even chicks from the same parent birds, hatched in the same clutch can have differences (ie in appearance) because how the "mix" is expressed in each bird can have variances.

However, the "no" is in that there is no real difference if you are looking purely at the definition of the sex-linked chick being one that is able to be sexed by visual exam of color at hatch. Also, many of the names that originated from the hatcheries to describe *their* sex-linked chicks have since been hi-jacked, for lack of a better word, by the general public and are frequently used to describe any RSL/BSL rather than just those originating from the hatchery who coined that particular term.

At the end of the day, imo, a SL is a SL - bred for ease of gender differentiation and to be super-star layers - but a SL by any other name sells better --- after all, "Golden Comet" sounds much more intriguing than "red sex-link".

Yup.

Dozens of posts a day here from folks who MUST have a "name" to attach to their birds. Heaven forbid they just be chickens. So, all these birds have to have a "name" so people can answer, "What kind of chicken is that?"

Of course, 99 % of these birds are not a breed at all, or if they are said to be this or that breed, it is huge stretch as they barely resemble the breed, or just enough to say so. It's human nature. We like to feel our birds are important to us so we make up names or mis-appropriate breed names if we must. Not a sin. Not a crime. Just what it is.

 

[donrae]

And lots of folks here don't know the difference between a red sex link and a production red, so this was a good question! Hopefully folks will read it and educate themselves.