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Sexing!

post #1 of 6
4/29/12 at 6:42am
Thread Starter 

Hi

 

Please could anyone give me advice on sexing my chicks. Ive looked on the net and spoke to different people. Many say if the chick is Golden its a girl and if its Pale Lemon in colour its a boy.....is this true? Also the redness of comb and wattles which sometimes I find hard and the signs of sickle feathers for males and the rounding of feathers for the girls.

 

Can anyone give me advice for sexing upto 2-3wks old?

 

 

Many thanks 

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post #2 of 6
4/29/12 at 6:57am

Hi there!

 

I read an article yesterday about feather sexing.

 

It says that there are 2 sets of feathers on a chicks wing - the primary and the covert. The primary feathers are right at the tip of the wing and the covert a little further back.

 

On a hen the primary will be much longer than the covert and on a cock the primary and the covert will be much more in line with each other. Best done in the 1st 3 days though.

 

Below is a picture of what to look out for. Quite hard though, especially with a wriggly chick!

 

http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld006.htm

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post #3 of 6
4/29/12 at 7:09am

I saw a great You tube video - actually it was Mike Rose - Dirtiest Jobs learning chicken sexing - and I, the ultimate novice, tried if on my chicks and it became so easy - you won't be able to do it on much older than 1 week but it makes it so obvious.  The Primary feathers - the big ones farthest out on the wings, if it is a girl, there are two rows, one being much shorter than the other - They are kind of like in a row - long-short-long-short etc.    If it's a roo then all the feathers are the same length.

I also saw a great vent sexing video on sexing ducks, but I don't know if it is done the same way as with chickens.

Good Luck!! 

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post #4 of 6
4/29/12 at 8:42am
I accurately sexed 5 of my 6 chicks based on their wing feathers the day/day after I got them. There is one that I am still not sure of at 7 weeks old! The females feather out faster and the male 's comb was bigger and red at 3-4 weeks old.
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post #5 of 6
4/29/12 at 11:04am
Thread Starter 

Thank you for your reply and thats very good information. 

 

My chicks are nearly 4wks old now, its a shame I didn't have that information earlier but Ive saved the page if I hatch again.

 

Many thanks!

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post #6 of 6
6/3/12 at 3:51am
Thread Starter 

Hi

 

After having the information on sexing by featherings. I tried it on two newly hatched chicks and I was 100% that both were females. 4wks later am still sure one is female but the other is a Pekin bantam and its comb is on/off red its still little but I concieve myself its growing. Think am gonna have to wait till another couple of weeks.

I must of gone wrong with the feathering somewhere but it looked so easy todo.

 

Can you give me any tips?

 

What did your little chick turn out tobe?

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