As to color.....
If you keep a sex link rooster, and breed him to a sex link hen, you'll get 50% barred chicks, regardless of gender. 50% solid. The base color will be black, but you'll likely have some red leakage coming through on both hens and roosters.
You're kind of comparing apples to oranges here, when folks are talking about hybrids having a higher rate of lay and burning out faster. Those statements can apply to hatchery hybrid sex link layers, but it's not simply because they have sex linked genes. The sex linkage has nothing to do with how well a bird lays, or how fast they might "burn out". Those traits come from the parent stock, that they're bred to be such high production birds.
A bird simply being a hybrid or mixed breed does not mean it's going to be a stellar layer. Having the sex linked to the color doesn't mean it's going to be a high production bird. It's just that the hatchery birds have been intensely bred that way for so many generations, folks confuse the two things.
Crossing breeds does result in "hybrid vigor", usually a healthier animal overall. But, you've still got to start with good parent stock. In your case, the offspring are going to lay basically the same as the parent stock. So will future generations. You don't magically gain or lose egg production over the generations with sex linked genes.
For example, I have a pen set up to give me red sex linked chicks. The rooster is a Silkie, one of the hens is a light Brahma. Neither of those breeds are known for their laying prowess. So, just because I'll be able to sex the chicks at hatch, and they're red sex links, doesn't mean they're going to lay like the hatchery red sex links. they're just going to be cute little buggers that should brood up a storm!
the biggest bonus to hatching your own sex linked birds is the ability to tell gender at hatch. This is handy if you're selling sexed chicks, or if you want to cull the males to only raise pullets.
Just be warned---breeding and hatching is addictive
thanks, I know. This all started because I rescued 3 chicks, then I rescued their mom and helped her hatch out 11 more. I had to sell them because I had already planned to go away for 3 weeks and there was no one to look after them, but now I miss them so much I can't wait to get started again. I ordered 10 chicks, so I could sell the roos, but they haven't even arrived yet and I'm already thinking of keeping a roo and expanding the coop and breeding. Chicken math is contagious :cd
Not entirely correct. The black sexlink hen only has one base color gene, and that is red. The male has two genes for base color, one for red and one for SILVER. Black is caused by pattern genes and is not a base color. Both have a gene for Extended Black, but both may carry a columbian inhibitor from their Rhode Island Red or Production Red father. So half the female offspring will be red base color and the other half will be silver base color. Half the male offspring will be red base color, and half will be silver base color with red leakage. Barring inheritance will be about 50%. About 25% will be pure for Extended Black. About 50% will only have one copy of Extended Black, allowing for possible leakage, and 25% won't have the extended black pattern gene at all.
