At McMuraays they have the Red Star and the Black Star sex links that they say are both the best egg laying machines. I can't figgure out any difference. Is there a difference between these two breeds other than the obvious color difference of the hens? Thanks.
Red Star and Black Star
Black sexlinks are rhode island ted or new hampshire red rooster and mother is a barred rock hen.golden comets which are a red sexlink is white rock mother and new hampshire father.And they are great layers of large brown eggs,I have both
This message was edited Sep 1, 2010 11:13 AM
The more I read about sex-links, the more I favoured the red-sex links...I think they were said to be a bit friendlier and more interactive, although I think both black and red sex-links are excellent egg-layers.
Different hatcheries use slightly different breeds and proprietary strains in creating their own sex-links and have different names for them.
This explains it a bit:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Chicken-Breeds-Sex-Link
My red sex-links are a bit pecky on the others and they are kinda on the skinny side so would not be a good meat chicken but they sure are great at the egg laying thing.They weather the cold very well in the northern Maine.IT IS SO HOT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!! BREAKING RECORDS EVERY DAY,IN THE HIGH 90`S.We never have weather like this,this time of year.My poor chickens are panting,I keep giving them cold water in ther waters and spraying down the run for them,it is windy today so that is a little help.
Wow, I knew I would get the straight scoop if I asked here.
I didn't even realize that the different red sex links from different places weren't exactly the same thing. I had seen some red sex link hatching eggs offered on e-bay and it never occured to me that they weren't exactly the same as Red Star. And I wondered how they got them since they all are girls and what happened when there are males.
That link is great. I read it quickly and am going back to read it again.
I do have the Red Star at least at the very top of my list, Black Star too. I was wondering before this if they really were two different breeds or just two colors of the same breed. Plus its really interesting that the article said that different lines and exactly what goes into them are a closely guarded secret.
The problem with buying sex-link eggs on eBay is that, I am pretty sure, what you are getting in many (most) instances is second generation progeny...meaning they really aren't sex-links.
Sex-links are what results from specific crosses and are considered hybrids. If you cross two hybrids you may lose the desired traits through re-segregation...so you might have nice birds, but they won't be the same as their parents.
I think most of the people offering them on eBay don't really understand this...so they are doing it in good faith. But even those that are doing the crosses themselves, probably just use whatever parental lines are knocking around. I think you would do best buying sex-link chicks, eggs, or started birds, from a hatchery.
There are a few exceptions to this....ISA Browns are sex-links, but they now mostly breed true. But in general you don't want birds from second generation eggs.
I have too look up ISA Browns. Never heard of them. Great point about the sex links eggs on e-bay, I would not have taken all that into consideration. Thanks!
You all know I am still looking as I keep posting questions. But so far from everything I have looked at the Red Star are the number one on the list. This for many reasons.
Not only are these top rated everywhere I read for egg laying but they are nice looking chickens in all the pictures I see. Plus they say they are calm and friendly. Deffinately a big plus for me. And not too big. I don't think I need really, really large chickens. And they give them excellent marks for laying in both the hotter and colder weather. All this combined puts them at number one on my chicken list.