What Will I Get?

[alaskanchickens]

I hope I have the right forum! Couldn't really find what I'm looking for anywhere else. We are getting ready to incubate some eggs in a couple of months and I'm curious if anyone has the breeds/mix I will be hatching? I have Black Sex Link hens and a roo and Buff Orpington hens. I know, breeding a sex link to a sex link or any other bird for that matter doesn't produce a sex link. What I'm curious about is what they will look like and if I'll be able to sex them by their primary feathers or not? I am NOT comfortable vent sexing at this time! Any pics of these mixes would be greatly appreciated!

 

[muscovy94]

All the chicks that I have seen that came from black and buff parents usually end up being dark with gold/buff leakage coming through. Not sure about the sexing question. I didn't know chicks could be sexed by looking at their feathers! Hope someone can answer it for you.

 

[alaskanchickens]

From my understanding, most pure bred chicks can be sexed by looking at their primary feathers, along with some mixed breeds. Pullets will have 2 layers, different lengths, of primaries whereas cockerels will have 1, all the same length.

 

[muscovy94]

From my understanding, most pure bred chicks can be sexed by looking at their primary feathers, along with some mixed breeds. Pullets will have 2 layers, different lengths, of primaries whereas cockerels will have 1, all the same length.

I'll have to test it out on my next batch of chicks! Any idea if it works on bantams?

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
50% of the chicks will be Black at hatch(with cream underbelly) and 50% will be yellow/orange... and not because they are sexlinked, but because the mother is E/eWh(E for extended black from Barred rock mother) and eWh(wheaten from RIR father).. and since Buff Orps are also wheaten then that will give you 50% of all chicks will be E/eWh(black at hatch just like mother) and 50% yellow/orange just like father.. the yellow chicks will grow to be black tailed buff(orange) and black chicks will be just like mother, overall black but with red/orange leakage on breast and some parts of the body

 

[Old Rando]

The only way sexing by primary feathers at hatch works is to be selectively bred this way, homozygous(two copies) fast feathering male with heterozygous (one copy) slow feathering female.. If you have not done this then you are just guessing. Hatcheries do this for a few production types.

 

[alaskanchickens]

So basically, since this is the first hatch of these kinds for me, they can be any color or combination, of the parents or grand parents? Red, buff, black, barred? Is it possible to sex by feathers on these birds? I'm not at all concerned with what they will look like, just curious! Main thing is that I would like to be able to sex them so I can get the pullets to their new home asap instead of feeding them until their feathered out to find out. I know a lot of people have an issue with others selling mixed breeds, we're not selling, we're giving them to my kids grandmother to restart her flock and doing it as a science project for homeschool!

 

[nicalandia]

Quote:
No.. you only get some Black and some Buff looking and maybe some that will look orange, but not barred.. the barrin gene was not given to the pullet of the Black sexlink cross, so she does not have any to give

 

[alaskanchickens]

I looked a couple of things up about feather sexing and unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to feather sex.....it is just not possible in buff orpingtons and bsl's parent breeds are both slow feathering Do I have any other options or should I start researching vent sexing? I am really excited though to see what colors they turn out to be!