first hatch! sexing by wings?

KellyAndMark

In the Brooder
5 Years
So here is our very first hatch, 9 little birds! Our rooster is a barred rock mix (we were told with a production Red) And our hens are all barred rock and barred rock mixes, and one cochin. The white chicks really boggled our minds.. no idea how we ended up with those. We do have a silkie rooster but he's been put away with other silkies for quite a while. Anyway, can you sex chicks by their wing feathers? They are 3-5 days old. We know the one with the spot on his head is a cockerel. Here they are!

#1




#2 The cockerel




#3




#4 feathery legs, hard to see in the picture.




#5 mystery white chick




#6 really small white spot on the head



#7 mystery white chick




#8



#9 The silver chick



Here they are in a bucket. No we don't keep them in a bucket! haha We kept mixing them up after taking the pictures
 
Unfortunately, feather sexing only works on specific breeds, and only when the birds are specifically bred for it. You need a male with a fast feathering gene and a female with the slow feathering gene. Males will inherit the slow feathering, and the females feather faster. So, it likely won't work for your birds.

Post photos of them when they are 6 weeks old or so. By then, we should have a better idea on gender, by looking at the comb/wattle size and coloration.
 
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You don't have any sex linkage with these birds, either by wing feather growth or color. Not sure how you're thinking one is cockerel at this point? Your bsl rooster will give a barring gene to half his offspring, regardless of gender. Your hens that have barring will give barring to each of their male offspring. Any hens with barred ancestry but aren't barred themselves won't pass on any barring. You're going to have cute batch of mixed barred birds, but won't be able to tell gender until the normal 5ish weeks.
 

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