Breeding Red Stars?

[Secretlyspotted]

I know Red Stars aren't a "breed" they are a hybrid. So, this might not be the right forum. If not, please redirect me!
My sister and I are trying to breed chickens to sell at local farmer's markets. We love Red Stars for this reason because of the auto sexing and egg laying abilities. What are the two best breeds to combine? I'm thinking Rhode Island Red and White Leghorn. I've had white leghorns in the past and loved them too. Any advice? I'm thinking of ordering a chicks from hatchery to get this flock started. Any recommendations for quality hatcheries? Again, not concerned about breed standards, just want good, productive chickens.
Just background to save on the questions: I have an Easter Egger flock now and experience with lots of purebred chickens. I've hatched eggs both under a broody and in an incubator and I raised my current layer flock from a hatchery order. Just didn't want anyone to think I was a total newbie!
Thanks for any advice!
April

 

[Ifish]

Are you selling eggs,chicks, live chickens, or butchered chickens at the farm market?

Red Stars are just a copyrighted type of Red Sex Link, production Red, etc.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

What color are your EE's? A barred or cuckoo hen will produce sex links. The advantage of using a Barred Plymouth Rock is the size of offspring would be more advantageous when butchering your cockerels.

It's not just the sex link ability of hybrids but also the added vitality of offspring. When crossbreeding the offspring has super vitality and will lay better than either of the parent stock. So in saying this if you use your male EE to cover a few Barred Plymouth Rocks you'll have sex links, excellent layers and some added size for meat purpose of the cockerels.

I forgot to say that the male birds will be barred so quickly determined at hatch by the white spot on top of head. The offspring would likely still be EE's in that they should still lay colored eggs.

 

[Secretlyspotted]

This flock would be to sell pullets. Or chicks I guess depending on what I have when I go. These would be terrible meat chickens! At least, from my experience with RSLs. I didn't know the name Red Star was copyrighted! Thanks for that info.

 

[Ifish]

This flock would be to sell pullets. Or chicks I guess depending on what I have when I go. These would be terrible meat chickens! At least, from my experience with RSLs. I didn't know the name Red Star was copyrighted! Thanks for that info.

Ok, you would have to sell them as Red Sex Links and not Red Stars, ISA Browns, or Comets, etc.

So I would say find the best quality stock you can from breeds that can produce red sex links. You'd have to maintain that parent stock with a good breeding program to keep producing quality sex links. I hate to be a downer, but it's expensive and would be very hard to compete with the hatcheries.

 

[Secretlyspotted]

My EE flock is 2 purebred blue Ameracuana roosters and a mixed flock of layers- Ameracuanas, Easter Eggers, RSLs, Marans- a bunch of different ones. The roos are real Ameracuanas, bought from a breeder and EE hens are bought from a hatchery. I actually don't think I have any barred or cuckoo hens out there- weird. Something else I need to look for to have a pretty yard!
Could I pull one of my blue Ameracuana roos and get some Barred Rocks and be able to sex them? Those would be a good size chicken as well- those Ameracuana's are big boys! And they males would have a white spot on their heads?
Another- unrelated to the RSL question. Would a male hatched from a barred rock roo and a barred rock hen have a spot on its head? I just got a day old barred rock chick in a lot of four silkies and it has a dot on its head. Just wondering if I can tell if it is male or female from that dot.

 

[Secretlyspotted]

Definitely not trying to compete with hatcheries! Trying to sell pullets that will be good egg layers. And not trying to raise a bunch of males until I can tell the difference. The people that I would be trying to market to wouldn't have the means or the inclination to ship pullets from a hatchery. And good to know about the copyrighted names- around here folks sell them as everything silver comets, amber stars.... I could think of my own fancy pants name! LOL. I am looking for the best breeds to match to breed RSLs. And I am talking a really small time operation- like hatching 20 eggs at a time.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

A barred or cuckoo bird will have spot on head, both sex. In using a female of this type she will only pass the barring gene on to the males. Voila, a sex linked chick, all males will have the head spot and no females will. This is why I was suggesting using a few Barred Plymouth Rock pullets to make your sex links. You can continue your line of Ameracauna and purchase a few point of lay Barred every two or three years for the flock to make sex links.

Sell the females as 100% pullets and call them EE's. They will lay a green egg due to the blue with light brown cross. The cockerels will supply you and your family with good meat.

In this way of management it's not expensive at all. In keeping only the Ameracauna with line breeding you'd only be purchasing say three point of lay Barred Plymouth Rocks locally to maintain breeders for the making of sex links. Check craigslist this fall, I can get grown hatchery birds from craigslist in my area for $15 from those that are downsizing pre winter flocks. So that would be $45 every three years and all the birds can run together as the eggs will be readily differentiated from one another.

 

[Secretlyspotted]

Perfect! This is exactly the information I need. Everybody loves Easter Eggers- they sell wonderfully. I will be on the lookout for Barred Rock females!!! Thank you so much.

 

[draye]

You realize that using a Barred Rock hen you'll not be breeding Red Sex Lunksdont you. They will be Black Sex Links.

If you're wanting Red Sex Lunks then I'd buy New Hampshire roo and either Delaware hens or Rhode Island White hens. If it were me I'd also maintain runs of Purebred of the New Hsmpshires and tge other breed that I choose.

With the NH roosters over the Delaware hens you'd get the RSL ( red=pullets, white=roosters). Putting the Delaware rooster over the NH hens you'll be getting what some hatcheries are calling Indian Rivers, which isn't a sex link but they say are terrific layers.
Then when you are through hatching for the season if the Sexlinks, then put the roosters with their respective hens and hatch out a batch chicks to raise as replacements for another round of RSL the following year. As I said if it were me.