Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Sex-Linked Chickens
Sex-linked chickens are birds that can be sexed on sight at hatching because the males
and females are different color. They are a result of crossing two pure breeds. Although
some of the crosses don't always create visible color differences in the males and the
females, others work exceptionally well.
One of the first breeds of sex-linked chickens discovered was a cross between Barred
Rock hens and Rhode Island Red roosters. The female chicks from this pairing are all
entirely black, and the males are all black with a white spot on the heads. There are nu-
merous ways to make sex-links using various combinations of males of one type and
females of another and each hatchery may use a slightly different combination to get the
strain that they sell.
Sex-linked females tend to fit much better in the egg-laying group. Flying in and out
of pens as youngsters, they will undoubtedly do their share of clearing high fences on
the wing, choosing to roam and forage at will. As they get older, they are not quite so
flighty and stay in the backyard. They are very good brown-egg layers in late winter,
spring, and the summer months. Even though as the season gets hotter they tend to lay
fewer eggs, they still maintain a reasonable level of production.
The sex-linked males make a very fine meat bird. Stay away from the darker sex-
links, however; in butchering the darker-colored pinfeathers can be a challenge to pick
and clean off. The advantage of the reddish-colored sex-links lies in the fact that the
males of these crosses tend to be nearly white and provide very few pinfeathers that are
dark and difficult to remove.
The American Classes
One could also place into the dual-purpose category some of the meat chickens that lay
a brown egg, such as the Jersey Giants, Wyandottes, Rocks, Reds, Chanteclers, and oth-
ers in the American category. The brown-egg layers commonly have a bigger carcass
for butchering and lay quite a large number of eggs per year.
