Sex-Link chicks are one of the best ways to ensure you’re adding only females to your backyard flock. But how are these girls made? Are they a purebred or a hybrid? What is the breeding recipe? And what will they produce if you breed them? Here is everything you need to know about sex-link chicken chicks, hens, and their genetics:
Sex-Link Chickens: Breed or Hybrid?
Sex-Link chickens are a hybrid. They are created by breeding certain feathered roosters to different feather colored hens, using “breeding recipes” that are known to produce sex-link offspring. (You can find several of those breeding recipes in this article on How to Breed Sex Link Chicks.) The offspring of these special pairings are said to be sex-linked because the males hatch in one down feather color (usually lighter) and the females hatch in another feather down color (generally darker).
But What About Purebreds Who Are Sex-Link?
Purebreds whose chicks can be sexed at hatch are called Autosexing. This is different than a sex-link, which is a hybrid cross breeding that deliberately produces males and females in different down colors. Purebreds with autosexing traits tend to have chicks that hatch with subtle color differences or more enhanced markings on the females. Autosexing breeds include Welsummers, Crested Cream Legbars, Bielefelders, Rhode Island Reds, and many more. Cackle Hatchery offers a fantastic list of autosexing breeds.
How to Identify Sex-Link Chicks
Sex-link chicks can hatch in a wide range of down feather colors, with or without certain markings. It is best if a breeder or hatchery provides images of how males and females can be differentiated. Here are some of our chick pics to illustrate some of the most common sex-link chick colors:
Males Have Head Spots and Females Do Not:
Many sex-link breeding recipes produce males with light colored head spots, which indicates barring is present, while females do not have the same spots. But this does not mean every chick with a head spot is male! Only sex-link bred chicks will produce males and females who correctly sex based on the presence or absence of head spots.
Males are Generally Lighter Colored While Females are Darker:
Many sex-link breeding recipes produce chicks who, instead of having head spots, hatch in completely different colors. Females are generally darker or more reddish colored while males are lighter and/or more yellow-white colored.
Sex-Link Chicken Genetic Charts
Sometimes infographic visuals help us comprehend why making sex-links is possible:
Incorrect Beliefs About Sex-Link Chicken Chicks
Since chicken genetics are complex, here is some helpful info about sex-link chicks, hens, roosters, and breeding with some common misconceptions explained:
Incorrect Belief #1: Sex-Link Hatching Eggs Will Hatch Out ALL Female Chicks
If you buy hatching eggs from a pairing that produces sex-link chicks, those eggs will hatch out males in one color and females in another color. The breeder you purchased them from should be able to provide images of how the male and female chicks look, since they will be different colors. Males are generally lighter colored or have light colored head spots on the top of their head. Females are generally darker and perhaps more reddish in color and have NO head spot. But there are so many unique ways to breed sex-link chicks that ideally you’ll have some images from the breeder to help identify the females at hatch.
Incorrect Belief #2: Sex-Link Hens Can Only Produce Female Offspring
If you purchase a sex-link pullet or hen, this means that she was identifiable as a female on the day she hatched because of her down feather color. She is a normal hen in every other way. Her eggs will produce both male and female offspring.
Incorrect Belief #3: Breeding Sex-Link Roosters and Hens Together Creates More Sex-Links
Creating sex-link chicks requires that very specific breeding recipes are followed. If you breed sex-link hatchmate brothers and sisters together, you do NOT get sex-link offspring. This is very important to know because you will usually get chicks that hatch in 2 different colors but each color will be a mix of both males and females. The hatch might look sex-link but it definitely is not. Sex-links only “work” for one generation. If you want to be able to tell chicks apart at hatch forever, opt for one of the autosexing purebreds mentioned above!
Many breeders find sex-link chicks to be profitable precisely because the offspring cannot be bred together to create more sex-links. Buyers will need to return to the breeder to buy more guaranteed pullets each year.
Incorrect Belief #4: Breeding a Barred Rooster to Barred Hens Always Creates Sex-Links
Barred Roosters bred to Barred Hens are expected to produce 100% barred offspring who will all hatch with head spots. They don’t create a true sex-link but sometimes there are visible differences in some of the barred males and females. Cackle Hatchery describes the slight differences between barred chicks this way but be advised it can still be difficult to tell the sexes apart:
Barred Males are paler, with white head spots that may be large, irregular, elongated, scattered, or “missing”. (Very faint; there may only be a single downy feather in yellow on the head.)
Barred Females have darker down and legs; head spots that are small, compact, and narrow; distinctly yellow toes. (Yellow toes are not guaranteed in Barred hybrid females; mostly seen in Barred Rocks.)
There is a situation where a rooster carrying barring on only ONE of his Z chromosomes when mated to a barred hen will produce all barred male offspring but only 50% barred female offspring. The other 50% of the female offspring will not inherit barring. These chicks are considered “females identifiable at hatch”. This is not a true sex-link breeding but it does produce some identifiable females. Why? Because these female chicks failed to inherit the Z gene with barring from the rooster (they got the Z gene that did not have barring) and since they can only inherit the W gene from their mothers, which never carries the barring gene, they are NOT barred at hatch. This can only happen to females (ZW), so it produces a few pullets who will be identifiable as female at hatch since they will have no head spot. ALL the males from this mating will inherit the barred Z gene from their mother and be barred, and should have visible head spots at hatch, no matter how faint.
Incorrect Belief #5: Sex-Link Hens Lay Brown Eggs
Nope! If you follow the “rules” for sex-link breeding (certain feather colors crossed to other specific feather colors), you can produce sex-link chicks who will lay a colored egg! Olive Egger breeders have already been using Barred Olive Egger hens to produce sex-link Olive Egger offspring for years. Some of the recipes are simple, potentially using hens or roosters you already own, and produce offspring that are easy to identify at hatch in just 3 weeks.
Sex-Link Chicks are Desirable!
The popularity of backyard laying hens, with ever-more cities agreeing to allow laying hens only, has created an increase in demand for sex-link chicks. Especially sex-link colored egg layers. Breeding sexable-at-hatch chicks can be a fun and profitable breeding project!
You Might Also Enjoy Reading:
How to Breed Sex-Link Chicks (with popular breeding recipes!)
EASY Illustrated Chicken Breeding Recipes
Selling Hatching Eggs for Profit (from 10 Hens + 1 Roo)
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