First, lets start with the basics of genetics (and when I say basics, I *really* mean basics!). When you breed chickens, the male chicks ALWAYS receive their genetic information found in the breeder hen's chromosomes. However, female chicks can't acquire traits from the breeder hen. Therefore, remember that when a hen with certain special characteristics is bred with a rooster without it, all the male chicks will receive it but not the females. Pullets usually are just like their father, while all males end up just like their mother.

What are some of those "special characteristics"? Some sex-linked traits include nakedness (such as the Turken), barring, albinism (a chicken completely devoid of color pigments) and the silver color pattern. Because everyone knows that the inheritance of traits is criss-crossed, sexing sex-linked chicks is easier since all you need to look for are those special characteristics.

What type of sex linkage are used for sexing? One of them is color sexing. This type uses the feather color gene found in the parents' chromosomes. For example, if you were to mate a red female bird (such as a Rhode Island Red) with a male alternate colored breed (such as a New Hampshire), all the female chicks will have the New Hampshire colors while the males will be red.

Color sexing is usually used for hybrid brown-egg layers (such as the Black Sex Link hen). The use of color sexing is one of the reasons that many chicken breeds are disappearing. With so much interbreed mating, truly pure birds are gradually becoming extinct.

Another type of sex-linked sexing occurs when the breeder uses feather sexing. This results when you mate a slow feathered bird with a faster growing bird. To tell one sex from the other, one simply has to pick out all the chicks by the development of their flight feathers. This type of sex linkage is usually used in the meat bird industry.

Just to keep the record straight, some birds do not need to be selectively bred to have sex linked sexing. Barred rocks are one common example. All male Barred Plymouth Rocks have elongated white spots on their heads while females' spots are more spherical in shape.

If you have any questions on the above information about sex-linked chick sexing, be sure to contact us! Don't forget to comment on this article by using the easy form below -

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