First post! Breeding questions!

[ChickInnHouse]

Hello! I've been reading the posts and articles on BYC for years every time I have chicken questions. Y'all are a great community! And I'm finally asking my own question instead of reading everyone's.
I have ~60 hens, and 7 roosters( my ratio is the wrong way, I'm hatching more this year). I have a harem pad with 7 barred hens and a RIR roo, separated so I can breed my own sex links. Here's my question though. If I added my RIR hens to that group, would I be able to tell the difference at hatch between the sex linked cockerels and the RIR chicks?
I only have the one RIR roo, and it would be difficult (but not impossible) to set up a second harem pad just for 5 RIR hens( I'm thinking I could move the roo between the pads every week). I'm already planning a second(third?) pad to put my Ameraucanas(?)/OE/EEs into.
Thoughts?

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

welcome to BYC

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC!
I can't swear to it, but I think you could easily tell the difference.

 

[Lovely Lettie]

Hello and welcome to BYC! It's great to have you here with us

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

 

[sourland]

RIR chicks would be reddish, and sex link chicks would be black. Welcome to BYC, and good luck with your plans.

 

[BigBird 2025]

Hello Im still very new here so I can't venture an opinion but Hello and welcome all the same I'm glad you joined us as well.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Welcome! Yes, RIR/barred rock chicks will be distinguishable from pure RIR chicks at hatch. The sexlink chicks will be black (with or without a white dot depending on sex) and the RIR chicks will be red, super obvious before they're even dried off.

 

[ChickInnHouse]

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone!
Thank you for your responses! I could only find photos of adult rir/br roos, and they all look so red/white( though come to think of it, they may have been barred roo over solid hen). That's good to know, now I'll only have to figure out a good place to put the green/blue group.