How Young Is Too Young To Determine The Gender Of A Chick?

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Chick Godmother

Chick Godmother

In the Brooder
5 Years
Mar 27, 2014
22
3
26
Maryland
How young is too young to determine the sex of a chick?

We have 6 chicks that are one week old and were supposed to be girls (with 90% accuracy). 2 are Cochin, 2 are Silver Laced Wysndotte and 2 are Ameraucauna.

I have read about waiting until the combs come in and watching behavior and looking for crowing or spurs... but I was wondering if they are too young for feather evaluation? I know none of it is 100%...

I know I am most likely jumping the gun, but I am not permitted to have roosters in my neighborhood and am growing rather attached to the little ones and would like to know if I might have a chance of having a rooster.
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Those chicks were vent sexed at the hatchery. a person with great skill can vent sex chicks at a day old. Some breeds/hybrids can be sexed by colour when they hatch (not the breeds you have). In your case you are going to have to wait for the appearance of combs and wattles and feathers. Spurs will not be a reliable indicator as both sexes have them. Other features to look for as they get older are length and size of legs and feet (cocketels are larger than pullets.) Hope that helps.
 
Thank you Tricoglossus, everything you said was very helpful. That is what I was thinking.... too soon still. Almost all of the chicks are growing in their wing feathers and some have tiny tail feathers and one even has "shoulder" feathers... do they have to get to a couple of weeks old (and the "ugly stage" I think I heard someone call it) in order for them to have enough feathers to determine anything?
 
Yes by a few weeks old the males should start to develop their combs and wattles, that's what you look for at that age. The first feathers that grow through may not be so helpful (no distinctive saddle or hackle feathers at that age) but those first feathers will soon moult out and the next lot of feathers will grow through. By this stage the birds will be a few months old and you will see long pointy saddles and hackles if they are cockerels.
 
@ Tricoglossus - Thank you, I will keep an eye out for combs and wattles.

My blue cochin is turing out to be my fave, seems to enjoy being handled and is not a flighty as the others... but I noticed that she seems extra observant compared to all of the others (including the other breeds and the one other Cochin) She is always looking up at up when we come to the brooder and she streches her neck up. I am hoping hoping hoping that this is just a sign of being a good natured / smart chicken and not a rooster trait..... I am worrying myself sick over this.
 
There's no point worrying because there's nothing you can do to change anything. Enjoy your lovely chicks, they don't stay little for long! The chances are you have all pullets because the success rate of sexing was 90%, so 1 in 10 will be a rooster, and you only have 6. If you had 20 then yeah, sure, expect at least 2 roosters. One thing I will say is make sure you have a plan B for what to do with a rooster should it turn out that you do have one. That might help you to relax a bit more.
 
@ Tricoglossus - You are right. I should enjoy these moments that I have now... I kinda wish they would stay tiny forever... there are so stinkin cute!
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I think my plan (in the event we did get a rooster) would be to try to give him away to a loving home with someone that would love him and not just get him to cull him. I guess I would post an ad here on the BYC thread... is that usually sucessful?
 
I'm not sure, I've never tried it. I'm in Australia so when I have had to rehome roosters before, I used local buy and sell websites and a poultry buy and sell website. However, it is possible to keep a rooster in suburbia, it just depends how much you want to do it! I.e. how much time/money/messing about you are willing to do. The biggest hurdle is keeping the noise down. If you can find a method that works for you, the rest is easy.
 
In in the USA and the county that I live in has a law that you can only have 6 Hens and no Roosters (or you will get fined and then can not have any birds at all)... as much as I would love to risk it... I am not so sure that my family would feel the same way with how visible the yard is to passers by....

I am hopeful that I have no roosters, and shouldn't be so worried about it, but if I find that I do actually have one, then I will do everything in my power to find him a loving home... and would most likely start with a post on the free to good home thread.
 
Well I thought I would update this thread incase anyone was wondering.... all 6 of our brids turned out to be female (and I know for sure because all six are laying eggs now) Woo Hoo!
 

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